Post by Wyntre Cold on Aug 3, 2017 12:51:11 GMT
Meanwhile, on World of Dragon Ball: Souls:
Kocha enjoyed her kill. Killing wasn't something that she usually enjoyed, but this? This was revenge.
There was nothing left of the beast. No remains, no dust, no chance. But, as Kocha noticed, the walls began to fall apart around her.
She had succeeded in unlocking the purpose of her limited Saiyan genetic material… golden power flowed around her. But, as the simulation faded, the form didn't seem to want to go away.
"Golden hair, golden skin, spiky hair, raging aura. Yes, you've certainly achieved what you were meant to. Congratulations, Kocha: you are a Super Saiyan, yet only very slightly Saiyan. I do apologize, once again, for coercing you into simulating hard such traumatic events, but now I can see that it was worth it."
Kocha was still gold. Kocha was still angry. Even as Wyntre appeared and the simulated laboratory faded away as if it was never truly there (and it wasn't ever truly there at all), the last thing to fade was her simulated mother's blood covering her body.
"You—! You had me… you made my mother die in my arms!"
Wyntre's scouter alerted her to Kocha powering up. She wasn't concerned with that, however. "Realistically, if you were to attempt what you had done here, that demon would have killed you. Clearly, this exercise was designed to make you activate the Super Saiyan transformation. The results are quite considerable, but one thing is clear: it worked. Stand down."
The sound of thunder echoed throughout the chamber, but there was no storm. "You… you! You made me watch my mother die! I'll make you pay!"
She jumped forwards with an uncontrollable and powerful power, which Wyntre merely flew out of the way of. While, yes, the Super Saiyan transformation granted great power, it lacked control, it lacked finesse. Wyntre had both greater power and control without even transforming. But, alas, her goal was not to win, her goal was to calm her new friend from the inherent Saiyan mindlessness.
How was this working, anyway? Ribonu, the body/science project that Kocha had been inhabiting for a while now, had plenty of genetic sources with many different systems made to fit together for maximized efficiency. Her mind, however, was half-Scobian and half-Kondorian. Why was the Super Saiyan transformation influencing her mind as it seemed to? Ribonu was designed for this sort of thing not to happen: the body shouldn't influence the mind, only the other way around. Yet, how was that happening here?
Wyntre came to a realization: it wasn't happening like that. She wasn't acting the way she was acting because of the Super Saiyan transformation, she was acting the way she was acting because that's the sort of way you act when your mother dies, crying and bloody, in your arms. If Wyntre were in her position, well, she wouldn't act in the same manner at all: she'd be more likely to kill her mother herself.
Wyntre activated her trusty Scouter and was pleased with the results. "You shouldn't even bother trying to fight me, even if your Power Level is considerable. For, you see, you have a Power Level of 1,996,050, whereas I have a Power Level of 4,258,240. I more than double you in terms of power so, really, any attempts at hurting me really aren't going to go your way. Calm down."
She wasn't going to calm down anytime soon. Rather, she was livid. So livid, in fact, that the Arcosian could hardly finish her speech before Kocha tried to uppercut her with her foot.
Wyntre dodged the attack by moving her head slightly to the right. "Do you think that I am your enemy? I'll tell you who your enemies are, in no particular order: Zucceta, Habana, Vennel, Koldar, Shemha, Xylo and Emer." Kocha didn't know who a few of those people were, such as the last one. Wyntre didn't like Emer because of his stupid smug face. "I am not your enemy. I am Wyntre Cold, Rightful Empress of Arcose, and I ask that you calm yourself."
She was pretty sure at this point that Kocha wasn't listening. She could tell because Kocha had been attempting to hit her with a constant and unchanging amount of effort. This was good: it meant that Wyntre didn't have to try any harder to dodge.
The gravity was on 150x. It had been for a while, since Kocha had first activated her… it wasn't just the Super Saiyan transformation, was it? No, it was more than that. Her sclera was white, her iris red and her pupils indistinguishable from her iris, the sign of an Arcosian, representing the biological niche of accessing the 'Full-Power' of an Arcosian's power. There was also something different about her horns, something hard to place: they didn't seem any different, but there was something eerily strange about them now. Perhaps this was was because of the amount of her genetic material that was demonic in origin, perhaps it was nothing, Wyntre could not have said for certain. There was also the case of the increased muscle mass… it wasn't too noticeable at first, since bigger muscles don't seem too significant when compared to big spiky hair and a nigh-complete color palette swap. This was reminiscent of the Ro'Shi transformation seen on a few human martial artists she had met over the years, but also with the Arcosian 'Full-Power' factor. To call this merely Super Saiyan would be to mislead. Rather, what it was was something more along the lines of a Super Synthesis™. It had so much potential, she had so much potential, she just needed a proper teacher to bring out her potential. Perhaps Wyntre was not suited for this: she had only ever started training a year or so ago and most of her power had come from raw natural potential alone. But, then again… she did achieve the legendary Royal Form.
Ah, yes, the Royal Form. She briefly wondered if Kocha could attain such a form: it was probable, she decided, considering how much of her own genetic material was in Ribonu. Then that brought on the question of if Kocha could attain more powerful Saiyan transformations… it was deemed unlikely that Ribonu reacted at all with Blutz waves, hence she could not become some version of an Oozaru, but there was a strange new transformation, the Super Saiyan 2 form, that Wyntre had seen in use a few times through video recordings and from her unsavory time spent in the depths/surface (mostly surface) of hell.
Did Majins have transformations? She remembered some of her (mis)adventures with Zexama and how she increased in power sometimes and never came back down or how she would absorb someone and gain physical or personality attributes like that of the absorbed, but she didn't really think that that sort of thing counted. Namekians were alike in this regard: actual transformations of theirs didn't seem to influence their appearance and/or didn't go away.
That reminded her: Namekians. She couldn't quite seem to find any Namekian traits in her, but perhaps seeing if there were any would horribly backfire if there weren't. Of course, surely, there would be better ways to test Namekian regeneration than cutting an arm off.
"You made me watch my mother die!"
Oh, that's right, we're still fighting. I was lost in thought for a moment there. Well, alas, it seems that poor Ms. Kinoko is, indeed, in control of herself well enough to use a correctly-structured sentence. She's far better than most SSE members in that regard.
"And was it not worth it? You're leagues above where you were before!" Wyntre caught her punching fist in the same manner that Kocha did to the simulated demon from before. She held her fist tight and caught her other one when that was used to free the first hand. "Now you can stand up and give a good fight to whichever force attempts to invade Scobia, if ever such an event comes to pass. Does that not please you?"
Apparently the answer was 'no'. No, that did not seem to please her, not one bit. Or, perhaps it would have pleased her, if she had listened. Was she even listening? No, probably not. Did it even matter? No, probably not.
"You had me shot through the heart… you had me experience the pain of death. Do not claim that it was for the greater good."
Yes, that was true, in a way. Except… death, itself, wasn't painful. The pain she felt was not the pain of death, but the pain of having a hole shot through one's heart. "Pain is instantaneous at any given point of pain. In any moment, there is only one moment of pain, with all pain that preceded merely being the memory of pain. The point is… memories fade quickly and pain fades with it. This transformation, though, what you are in now, it is worth the pain, as it will last until your death and perhaps will even continue on from then. It was worth it, as I'm sure you'd agree once you're thinking rationally."
"Pride of Scobia!"
Wyntre knew what that meant.
That meant lasers eyes.
With no time to spare, Wyntre brought her tail between Kocha's eyes and where she was aiming. If all went well…
Success! Wyntre concentrated and used her psychic shield over her tail to safely absorb the red ki eye-beams. When the beams stopped shooting, she slapped Kocha across the face with her tail, echoing when Kocha slapped Wyntre just prior to the simulation starting.
"Computer. Give us somewhere to fight."
The gravity chamber faded away into nothing, only to be replaced with the surface of a barren, rocky world. Above them were three giant red stars, locked in a gravitational equilibrium that was only to be released from its immortality by their inevitable deaths.
Kocha, however, didn't seem to have noticed. She did not notice the barren world below them, or the spiteful suns above, as all of her attentions were made to be of their fight and her rage.
Kocha threw Wyntre into the planet below with unrestrained force as massive splinters of rock were thrown into the deepest chasms of space. Wyntre thoughtfully looked at her opponent, embedded in her Wyntre-shaped hole. With only a thought, the rocks and rabble were telekinetically pushed from their places.
Kocha flew towards the planet-bound Arcosian, fists ready, but Wyntre anticipated her strike and went through Kocha's fist— as well as her entire body— through a burst of intangibility. She tried to strike her from behind, but her blow was harmlessly sent to the side with Kocha's tail, a product of Ribonu's large amount of Arcosian genetic material.
Wyntre was well-versed in the intricacies of Arcosian Martial Arts, however, and knew just what to do in that sort of situation.She grabbed Kocha's tail, but saw that she could do more than that: by grabbing ahold of Kocha's wings as well, she could prevent her from trying to send her away by flapping and could squeeze as a way to dissuade her from doing… just about anything, actually.
Kocha, in a moment of clarity, remembered a conversation that she had with her father during the time when she was being Scobia's superhero. Feuskry was trying to set up a basic simulator device so that she could learn to fight— she was already quite martially competent, as she had been taught to fight quite extensively by her mother, but that didn't take account for her new wings or tail. Feuskry told her about this sort of hold. He told her how not to get put in this sort of hold, but it was a bit too late for that at this point. No, what she needed to know was how to get out of the hold. Rage smoked her mind over, but she soon remembered what her father would tell her about this hold:
'Do not get put in this hold.'
"Calm down, Kocha. The only techniques that would be able to get you out of this sort of hold are, coincidentally, techniques that I specialize in." Those were, specifically, the Death Beam techniques, which would have allowed her to shoot a quick yet intense beam of death at her from her tail or fingers as well as the Intangibility techniques, which would have simply let her phase through her grasp. Hypothetically, a technique that would allow her to change size would allow her to escape the hold, as well.
Ribonu had Majin donors, however, donors whose genetic material would have, in some capacity, made it in. What would Majin genetic material even allow one to do? Wyntre wasn't positive on how Majin genetic sequencing even worked— Zexama seemed to indicate that they just 'were'— but, if such systems were compatible, such traits might have come over. The liking of food was more a mental trait, a trait the computer knew not to add, but perhaps something else got in, like a general elasticity…
Or, a bit more than that, the ability to shapeshift.
Kocha's wings and tail suddenly extended greatly, pushing Wyntre to the side and letting Kocha to be free of the hold. Her extra limbs changed back to their usual sizes, leaving her in amazement of them. Her tail changed shape before her very eyes as it developed new ends and spiky bits and grew and shrunk, all so quickly. "I didn't know I could do this…" she said, not entirely sure who she was saying it for, "… there's so much more genetic material with uses I haven't found. Perhaps all of it has a use."
Wyntre, unharmed, was pleased to see her tail's changing shape had knocked her out of her state of rage and into one of wonderment. Even still, she burnt with the overenthusiastic light of a Super Saiyan.
"Yes, all of it does have a use. However, most of it is already in use. That is to say, they are passively and constantly being used to make changes to your body's systems. No other race is naturally as strong as you, Kocha, except perhaps some of the especially lucky Arcosians." With the exclusion of that whole recent 'training' thing, Wyntre was one of those especially lucky Arcosians. The Royal Lineage had much potential but, alas, there was no one else but her to have it. No one else that she was aware of, at least, as all two of her known siblings were dead and because Vetur, her father, had left no known bastards. Nor, it seemed, did he have any brothers… alive ones, at least. No, it seemed that she was the last hope of the Royal Line… a line which had temporarily been snuffed out by the fool, Zucceta.
Kocha looked to Wyntre. The bio-android's tail had stopped changing shape and had fallen to her side. "I will surpass them. I will become the strongest in the galaxy. No one would be able to escape justice, then."
The Arcosian thought about her words well. Vaguely menacing, but it would be fine as long as she never made justice personal, as long as its definitions were not changed and as long as her personal vendettas didn't get in the way.
"There are those much more powerful than you out there. Solar Saiyans, Earthlings, Mazoku, they all have warriors that could best you, warriors that could best me. If you cannot defeat me, the weakest faction leader, how could you stand a chance against the strongest faction leader? We will need to work on your power, Kocha, just as we will need to work on mine. You have achieved the power you have set out to receive, congratulations, but you can achieve so much more. Now that you're more agreeable… are you OK?"
Rage still flowed through her, even if it was in the back of her mind. Imagine my luck, a Scobian/Kondorian hybrid going Super Saiyan. She spread her hands in the space between her horns and felt her hair, her distinctly different hair, rustle and stand. It glowed, it radiated power, yet it was so soft…
She then decided to never style her hair again, if this was an option…
"I feel fine. Powerful, strangely so, but fine. Ah, Computer? Give me a mirror."
The Computer seemed unsure. Wyntre gave it a nod. Instants later, a simulated hand-mirror materialized itself in Ms. Kinoko's hand.
She looked at her face through the mirror in admiration and shock. She tried to move her hair about, but it adamantly stayed in its one position. Her eyes, like an Arcosian's, creeped her a bit out, though, the white and red reminding her of some stereotypical thought-up edgy-looking monster. Her skin, too, all of her skin, now shone with the gold of a Super Saiyan. She moved the mirror to look at her general frame and noted how much larger she was.
"It hurts, now that I'm not fighting. I'm using Super Saiyan, yes, but I seem to be using 100% of the power invested in me by your genetic material. Now that I'm not fighting, now that adrenaline isn't making me focus on the fight, the strain kinda hurts."
She powered down to her original state and watched with intrigue as her muscles decreased in size and changed color. Her skin and hair went from gold to red and blue respectively as her hair stopped being spiky and become something far more sensible. Her eyes reverted from the Arcosian red to the Kondorian yellow, Ribonu's normal eye color.
"It's gone now," she proclaimed as she discarded the mirror and started to keep maintain eye contact with her new mentor, "That's enough of the Super Saiyan transformation for now, I want to get used to it over multiple training periods. Oh, and, Wyntre?"
Oh? "Yes?"
Kocha flew right up to her, her stance giving no indication of the intent to attack. Wyntre forced herself to not enter a combat stance and to instead trust that the nearing Ms. Kinoko didn't seek to attack her. Instead of what would have happened not long ago, Wyntre found herself embraced in a short hug. "Thank you."
Huh. The culture on Scobia must have really been tolerant of hugs; on Arcose, only family and the closest of friends hugged, and never in training.
"I suppose, then, that we can train outside of that form. I'll be suppressing my Power Level to two hundred and fifty thousand and making it so that that is effectively my Power Level. Can you do the same?"
250,000.
Yes, apparently she could. She nodded in confirmation as well, if the scouter readings weren't confirmation enough.
"Brilliant. Then, Computer, if you would: bring us to a populated Arcosian-controlled planet. Have it so that the SSE is invading. Actually, no, how about we make this more personal? Here's the scenario: I returned to Arcose, drove out the Mazoku influence, as well as all of the Mazoku, became Empress and then regained all of the worlds that were rightfully a part of the Arcosian Empire. The Mazoku Dominion is continually made smaller and smaller until the only world it controlled was Namek. In a joint Earth-Saiyan-Arcosian invasion, the Mazoku were defeated, Xylo was slain and Namek was diplomatically annexed, with Earth support, by the Arcosian Empire to defend it from the inherently-destructive Solar Saiyans. Angered by this notion, they fought back, enacting even more brutal and immoral policies and tried to take back worlds. They start with Scobia for no real reason. Computer, enact it."
"Of course, Lady Cold."
And it was made so. Scobia could be seen below them, far below: Scobia (the planet's only city) on Scobia (the planet's only landmass) on Scobia (Scobia's only Scobia). It was a vast city, but not very tall and not made with very advanced materials. All that was not Scobia (the landmass) was the Scobian Waters (or, to the local inhabitants, the Elsewhere) which housed many useful gaseous resources that had been only waiting to be used, resources which only had been used because simulated Empress Wyntre was around to make it happen. The simulated Scobians were quite happy, as there were no longer any natural occurrences of the gas leaking into the water and driving the beasts of the deep towards the city.
"You were on Scobia being a hero when the invasion occurred. She was able to hold off the forces for long enough to have me arrive: Zexama and Brisk were on a mission elsewhere, defending another planet from the grasp of the Solar Saiyan Empire."
It was only then when Kocha had noticed the specks and the even smaller dots surrounding the planet from all direction: the Solar Saiyan vessels and their soldiers, many of which shooting the surface of the world with the power of their ki. Surely, not only average Saiyans were taking over, but also exceptional warriors. It was a likelihood, Kocha realized, that below they would be likely to face a Super Saiyan.
"You and I were already on the surface of the planet and had just defended Senate House from a Solar Saiyan warrior and the leader of the invasion."
In a blink, the two of them found themselves much closer to the surface of Scobia: the ground itself was only a few meters away. Behind them was the building that housed the governing body that controlled the planet: Senate House. In there was represented the people of Scobia through representatives: twelve seats were designated to the twelve hermits of the planet, twelve seats were designated to the four sages of the planet (three seats each), ten seats were designated to the ten captains (the democratically-elected 'leaders' of the city's subdivisions), one seat for the Watcher of the Elsewhere and one seat for the representative of the Arcosian Empire, Feuskry. But, alas, the Senate was not in action: the 28 senators of the 36 seats were all held in separated Arcosian-sponsored emergency bunkers, along with much of the population.
The building itself stuck out like a sore thumb, as it was made out of expensive and firm materials and was the only conventionally-tall building in the entirety of the city. Perhaps the Saiyans attacked it directly because they knew of its significance, or perhaps it looked different enough to seem as if it might be important. The Arcosian-built Senate House was built to replace the Scobian one, a shabby building made to replace the old one which was destroyed during the Mazoku invasion, which was itself a less grande version of the one before the Saiyan invasion which it replaced.
Wyntre hadn't gone into any detail about the main attacker, deciding to leave such details to the computer. The computer was good at making original and believable characters and suiting personalities and the Arcosian looked forward to what it would create.
Wyntre's scouter alerted her to an abnormally high Power Level reading, even among the likes of the Saiyan warriors, the hermits and the sages. It belonged to a male Saiyan and— if his armor gave any indication— he was in charge of the Saiyan invasion force.
His armor was the sort of shade of red you'd expect from someone who was trying too hard to invoke blood imagery. His shoulder-guards were too long and too spiky to be standard grade and an assortment of neatly-organized badges, medallions and war commendations found themselves firmly fastened to a sash that came across his torso horizontally. His hair was spiky yet short and almost seemed to curve upwards while had an evil-looking beard that looked well-groomed.
"Empress Wyntre!" He yelled this from afar as he caught sight of her before beginning to fly into a closer proximity.
It didn't feel strange, being called 'Empress'. It felt strange normally, as if it was mockery that pointed out her failures to remain Empress/not die. Here, though, in a simulated world where she was the Empress, she didn't feel insulted at all… even when it was said in such a way as that it was meant to be.
"I am Captain Arwort of the Solar Saiyan Invasion Force. I was on Arcose, I was on Kanassa, I was on Earth, I was on Arcose again! No matter where you turn, I'll be here… and, with the power that has been awakened in me, I can defeat you."
Kocha stole the words right out of Wyntre's mouth: "Half of the invasions that you just listed resulted in a loss for the SSE."
Oh, she was going to be proud of those clever quips. They were much like her own, but it was always strange hearing them coming from someone else.
"Perhaps, but ever still! During the Invasion of Earth, after nearly being defeated by some measly hermit's student, I had awakened the power that I deserve. I had become… a Super Saiyan! And, now, when the Queen sees the decapitated heads of the Empress and her Superhero lackey once I give them to her, well… I will be very highly rewarded. How about you two just kill yourselves, saving me the effort? We all know that the Empress isn't a match for a Super Saiyan after the sacking."
Golden energy began to flow around him as he powered up to full energy. 250,000PL. But, even from then, his power seemed insistent on rising even higher still.
Gold flashed through his hair.
"I am much more powerful than Zucceta was. I can defeat Super Saiyans with ease, I have a Super Saiyan Match Rating of 4 when I power up fully."
Her own Power Level, at that moment, was 3,507,528. Kocha's Power Level was, when in her Super Synthesis form, 2,192,205. Wyntre was able to enter the Royal Form at any moment, a transformation which would boost her Power Level all the way to 4,676,704.
Gold flowed through Captain Arwort as his eyes glistened with a new color for only a moment.
He let out a shout to the heavens as she let the golden rage of the Super Saiyan take him over.
3,750,000PL.
"Oh yeah?" he began, a new style of golden hair getting in the way of his vision, "Well, I'm pretty sure mine's way bigger." It wasn't. He had a Super Saiyan Match Rating of only a bit over three.
Kocha was wondering what the purpose of the fight was. Wyntre could transform whenever she so pleased, she reasoned, a transformation that would allow her the power to defeat such a foe with ease. This didn't particularly pose a challenge to them if they fought together, and she was sure that 'teamwork' wasn't the focus of the lesson because she knew too well for that. No, she realized, there must be more: either another enemy combatant was going to enter the fray or the current one was somehow going to receive a power boost. But, from where would a Saiyan receive an unprecedented and unreasonably powerful transformation from out of nothing?
Dear Ms. Kinoko was not sure if she would be able to reawaken her transformation, as she was not nearly powerful enough to face the Saiyan with her usual power. It took a lot of effort and a lot of relived trauma to activate it for the first time: surely, though, it would be easier to activate after that first time. She gathered her energy and focused on her power.
Her ki exploded with blue in a magnificent aura which cracked the very ground beneath her feet. She focused on her rage— she focused on Gesivii, and her role in life, and how much it pained her that she was no longer around. She thought of Scobia and the invasions it had been forced to endure. She thought off the planets out there, the innumerable and beautiful jewels in the sky, and thought about all of the atrocities she would be able to prevent, if only she were more powerful. She focused on the simulated moment when her mother's blood mixed with her own through their shared imageries. She focused on how much it hurt, yes, but she also focused on how she stood anyway.
And, in only a moment, power overcame her.
Gold flowed through her and colored her skin in its might. Her hair was similarly chromatically empowered and gained the symmetrical spiky design from before. Her eyes, once yellow, now bore the red mark of Arcosian power. Her muscles expanded considerably, too, but even this was a poor indicator of the massive power she had gained.
It was ironic, then, that the strongest looking of the three combatants was the weakest.
"Even now, with my entire body burning with power, with what was invested in me by oh so many species… even now, your untransformed state is still more powerful than what I can accomplish. Even the enemy, a normal Saiyan with a transformation, looms over me in terms of power." This angered her considerably. She flung herself towards Arwort, fists ready. "You, Saiyan scum! I am the culmination of just about all of the races of the galaxy: races you have tormented, races you had mistreated… races who will have their revenge, through me! You are an idiot with insecurity issues! Fall by my fist!"
Logically, yes, it made little sense as to why this boring usual Saiyan warrior was so much better than the optimized organism… perhaps you could have even called it the perfect organism. Perhaps there was a reason for it, however: perhaps Kocha, having constantly having lived with such Power Level before Ribonu, has not mentally adjusted to the sort of power made available to her by her body. Or, perhaps, all of the power that she had was only natural and that the true power of the perfect organism could only come out through an extensive honing of the body.
Meanwhile, Arwort had caught, without too much trouble, Kocha's fists. "I am not an idiot and I do not have insecurity issues," he said, not entirely convinced of the truth of those words, "I am Captain Arwort, a Super Saiyan of the mighty Solar Saiyan Empire! My power comes through struggle and emotion— real warriors like myself will always be more powerful than science experiments and stuck-up royals."
Wyntre flew at him with a speed that made Kocha's look not very impressive. She struck his hands, the sheer force of the strikes forcing him to release Kocha's hands, who made the most out of the situation to place a few moderately-effective blows against his large torso.
"I have gained access to the Royal Transformation and am on my way, I believe, to perhaps unlocking a form beyond even that. It is mostly my natural potential that has allowed me this power… the power to bring peace, and the power to defeat you. This 'stuck-up royal' is your better in every aspect and that 'science experiment' is a better fighter— and a better person— than what you could ever even hope to accomplish."
The Empress and the Superhero jumped back to gain some more distance. Even if they had the advantage together, even Wyntre was at a disadvantage in terms of power if she and Arwort were to fight each other one-on-one, as long as she didn't transform or use any of her more special techniques.
But, once again, after a quick telepathic countdown, they sent their bodies flying towards the Saiyan, who had since recovered from the attacks which has been sent his way. Arwort had a strategy, however— he believed that he would be able to defeat Wyntre in a one-on-one fight, the only thing that stood in the way of that being that annoying Superhero type, Kocha. So, then, all he'd need to do is defeat her and then just deal with the rest. It shouldn't even be particularly difficult, either, considering the gap in power between them.
That power gap wasn't as large as Arwort considered it to be, however. He didn't have a scouter, presumably for vanity reasons, so he had to judge power by how they reacted to him hitting them and how he reacted by having them hit him. Wyntre, on the other hand, had access to numerical representations of this power and, as such, knew exactly how big such a gap in power would be: displayed in percentage, Kocha had almost sixty percent of the power that he had.
Even now, the thought that this mere Super Saiyan could overpower her enraged Kocha. She was the ultimate culmination of evolution! So, why o why, was she so weak? It angered her, how the Saiyan could almost dismiss her strikes. It angered her, how he spoke of her. It angered her, how he just wouldn't die. It was this anger that she used to strike her foe with extra force. It was this anger that she hoped would allow her victory.
"Your bloodline of royals and nobles, with natural power passed down through the generations, can barely face up to one Saiyan! Imagine if you fought an army of Super Saiyans— oh, how glorious that would be!"
The concept of having the SSE develop an army of Super Saiyans was not a new one: it was an end-of-the-world scenario (or, rather, an end-of-intelligent-life-in-the-galaxy scenario) that only effectively all psychohistorians agreed would result in the end of civilization. It was right up there with the 'what if reality forgot to exist?' scenario.
"Then I would slay the entire army myself!" proclaimed Kocha, angrily punching Arwort's everything.
He brought his hand forward and grabbed Kocha's head, where she was powerless as he began to force pressure onto her skull. "You forget, Captain." Apparently he knew her alias. "You cannot defeat even one Super Saiyan."
The sheer power of Kocha's aura was fueled by the entirety of her rage. The awe-inspiring power of it knocked Arwort back and forced his hands from her head and temporarily stunning him.
"Oh, really?" she began, making the most of his stun with strikes and blows, "And which Super Saiyan is that? For all I see before me is an Empress and a pitiful warrior!"
Wyntre, too, made the most out of the situation by shooting a Death Beam at his heart. But, alas, his body moved slightly, having the Death Beam go straight through not the heart, but the solar plexus. The Saiyan, shocked, could only put his hand to the small hole in his chest and be surprised by the blood he saw.
"You—! I might… I might actually lose this! No, no, we can't have that." He pointed at Wyntre and began to address her directly: "Be proud, Empress. I will show you a power I had only used once before…"
And, with that, Arwort sacrificed an amount of what little intelligence he had left for even more power.
Ki exploded around him.
"What I'm about to show you is the true power of the Saiyan race. Behold! Super Saiyan 2!"
Whoever named that transformation was an idiot.
BOOM.
6,250,000PL.
His aura seemed to explode with a strange electricity. His hair, once silly-looking, was just kind of absurd.
This was the power of a Super Saiyan 2. Perhaps the Saiyan side of her would be able to achieve this transformation, too… after she had developed a sort of mastery over the Super Synthesis, perhaps she could attain a transformation beyond even it.
His was a power that was too large for them to handle, even together. No, Wyntre decided, she'd need more power. Fortunately, 'more power' is precisely what she had available to her. The Royal form, the pride of Arcose: she had been using it for quite a while and had, recently, decided to try to master it. Her attempts had always gone wrong, however: the technique that she had used to master her True Form (forcing oneself to live in, eat in and even sleep in that form at all times) was not working with the Royal form, as the strain was always too great and she would always revert back to her Mastered True form in her sleep whenever it was tried. She came to a single conclusion when it came to mastering such a transformation: be powerful enough for her body to be able such energies at all times. She did not know how powerful she would have to be to master it, she did not know if she had already passed it and she did not know if her previously-used transformation-mastering technique would work.
She had developed a sort of mastery over it, though, which showed in how easily she could activate it. Like, for instance…
Wyntre activated her Royal form. It happened in a fraction of a second in a blink-and-you-miss-it opportunity. Her height almost doubled, her muscle mass increased at least that much and her bio-armor shifted around to accommodate for the difference in frame.
"You're hardly the only one with more transformations. Behold, foolish Saiyan, for I am Empress Wyntre Cold of the Arcosian Empire! Vow your fealty to myself and I'll have you spared. Stand down."
4,676,704PL.
While at first shocked, Arwort could only laugh. He laughed and giggled, making a fool of himself and discrediting his transformation. "Well, it seems you've made a mistake, Empress, because my power still trumps yours. I mean, really, if you knew what was best, you'd be vowing yourself to the Solar Saiyan Empire, the rightful owner of the Galaxy!"
I hate everything you just said. I hate everything you stand for. I hate you.
"Oh, please. The administration of the Solar Saiyan Empire is inherently destructive and cannot properly sustain itself without slaughter; if the Empire you hold so dear did, indeed, conquer the entirety of the galaxy, with no more to slaughter, it would implode and erupt into many different dueling factions, leading to a cycle of reunification through violent force and continually splitting into smaller Empires when there are no more enemies to face until there aren't enough Saiyans to form Empires or until the heat death of the universe makes them impossible. The Saiyans don't rightfully own any part of the galaxy at all, with the only possible exception being Vegeta itself. So, to conclude: everything you said was stupid, misguided and wrong. Also, you have the mental faculties of a pane of glass."
Enraged by the Empress' comments, Arwort flung himself towards her and swung at her, full-force. But, alas, Wyntre was used to idiots trying to win conversations through violence, and knew exactly what to do.
"Wha—? What did you do? How are you unharmed?"
Yes, what did she do? Well, it was quite simple, but also very much not so. It was simple in that she merely 'phased' her body so that his fist went straight through her intangible frame with no harm being done to her. It was very much not simple, however, in that the way she did it required a nigh-absolute understanding of quantum vibration theory and an immense degree of control over her body, her ki and the way the two interacted.
Meanwhile, in the distance, Kocha was charging an attack. Ki built around her… if Wyntre can keep him distracted enough for me to charge this, she decided, I'd be able to do massive damage.
"Maybe it's because you didn't hit me hard enough."
Somehow even angrier, be began a series of strikes and attempted holds that, by the looks of it, were made for the sole purpose of ripping all of someone's limbs of. But, alas, when he opened his eyes, the Empress wasn't even touched. No, worse, she hadn't even moved.
"I think you may have missed."
Arwort was furiously swiping at her, continually using larger and larger increments of his entire power until he was striking as powerfully as his body could handle. But, despite his greatest efforts, she remained. She stood there, still unaffected, as if none of his attacks had any effect on her at all.
"… What did you do? It's witchcraft!"
Telekinetically, her sword levitated out of its scabbard as if it were being handled by a respectful and skilled sword expert… and, indeed, it was, telekinetically. It was the Arcosia, a technological marvel made by different experts of different scientific fields working in unison to create the culmination of their work. It incorporated the processes of at least three biotechnological organisms Wyntre had met along her travels and was even fine-tuned by an artificial intelligence that had been created for that purpose. The sword moved around in front of her, but she telekinetically directed it into her hand.
"I moved in a matter described in my scientific paper, 'Defining the Relationship Between Quantum Vibration Theory and Ki'. To put it simply: I can become intangible. To put it so simply that even an illiterate malcontent like yourself could understand it: the only way you'd be able to hit me is if I wished to be hit. However, since I do not wish to be hit, it could be said with absolute certainty that you are not able to hit me." She gave a little laugh. "But, please, go ahead. Try to hit me. Try to squash me. Try to prove how much better you are than all of us 'filthy lizards'. Go ahead, make my day."
It wasn't witchcraft either, as he had erroneously claimed. Witchcraft was a highly specific and inefficient manner in which to practice magic that was much like the manner in which warlocks practiced magic, except there weren't any boys allowed (at least not since the great cooties outbreak of '31). Magic itself was an area that Wyntre's scientists had spent some time understanding. It followed rules and could, potentially, have been useful in a hostile environment, but what the Empress did was something else entirely.
Meanwhile, as if somehow below notice, Arwort hadn't learnt his lesson and chose that a more productive alternative than anything useful would be the equivalent of mindlessly attacking the air.
"You can't keep doing this forever. I'll hit you eventually! And one hit is all it will take to defeat you, Lizard Queen!"
That was true, she would not be able to do this forever: the universe would end eventually. But, before that, in a few hundred million years, the simulator would stop working (assuming no one knew anything about maintenance). But, before that, in (hopefully) at least a few thousand years, Wyntre would die of old age. But, before that, she'd run out of energy. But, before that, Arwort would run out of energy.
Wyntre only had an advantage through this because Arwort was too stubborn to try to something else, mind you. She'd be struggling if she were fighting an intelligent and similarly-powered foe.
OK, that's time enough.
"Perhaps you should have a few moments rest. I promise, I won't try to attack you."
"Ha!" He seemed almost insulted. "As if I'd fall for that. I know you too well, Wyntre! We are aware of your slimy ways! You won't trick me, not one bit; you'd probably just trick me with some strange special technique of yours that'd kill me in one hit."
Wyntre considered those words. Meanwhile, in the distance, Kocha's eyes were burning to due her difficulty in containing all of the ki she was putting there for her attack...
"Well, you're half right. Yes, it's 'some strange specal technique', I suppose I'm tricking you into being hit by it and it will kill you in one hit... what you got wrong, though, is that it isn't my technique."
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"PRIDE..."
The red came out of Kocha's eyes in a massive attack.
"... OF..."
As his last action, Arwort looked back at the massive red beam headed straight for him.
"... THE..."
Arwort's last word had four letters and ended in 'fuck'.
"... GALAXY!"
And, in only a moment, hell itself seemed to rip into him.
He never stood a chance.
Subsequently...
Kocha enjoyed her kill. Killing wasn't something that she usually enjoyed, but this? This was revenge.
There was nothing left of the beast. No remains, no dust, no chance. But, as Kocha noticed, the walls began to fall apart around her.
She had succeeded in unlocking the purpose of her limited Saiyan genetic material… golden power flowed around her. But, as the simulation faded, the form didn't seem to want to go away.
"Golden hair, golden skin, spiky hair, raging aura. Yes, you've certainly achieved what you were meant to. Congratulations, Kocha: you are a Super Saiyan, yet only very slightly Saiyan. I do apologize, once again, for coercing you into simulating hard such traumatic events, but now I can see that it was worth it."
Kocha was still gold. Kocha was still angry. Even as Wyntre appeared and the simulated laboratory faded away as if it was never truly there (and it wasn't ever truly there at all), the last thing to fade was her simulated mother's blood covering her body.
"You—! You had me… you made my mother die in my arms!"
Wyntre's scouter alerted her to Kocha powering up. She wasn't concerned with that, however. "Realistically, if you were to attempt what you had done here, that demon would have killed you. Clearly, this exercise was designed to make you activate the Super Saiyan transformation. The results are quite considerable, but one thing is clear: it worked. Stand down."
The sound of thunder echoed throughout the chamber, but there was no storm. "You… you! You made me watch my mother die! I'll make you pay!"
She jumped forwards with an uncontrollable and powerful power, which Wyntre merely flew out of the way of. While, yes, the Super Saiyan transformation granted great power, it lacked control, it lacked finesse. Wyntre had both greater power and control without even transforming. But, alas, her goal was not to win, her goal was to calm her new friend from the inherent Saiyan mindlessness.
How was this working, anyway? Ribonu, the body/science project that Kocha had been inhabiting for a while now, had plenty of genetic sources with many different systems made to fit together for maximized efficiency. Her mind, however, was half-Scobian and half-Kondorian. Why was the Super Saiyan transformation influencing her mind as it seemed to? Ribonu was designed for this sort of thing not to happen: the body shouldn't influence the mind, only the other way around. Yet, how was that happening here?
Wyntre came to a realization: it wasn't happening like that. She wasn't acting the way she was acting because of the Super Saiyan transformation, she was acting the way she was acting because that's the sort of way you act when your mother dies, crying and bloody, in your arms. If Wyntre were in her position, well, she wouldn't act in the same manner at all: she'd be more likely to kill her mother herself.
Wyntre activated her trusty Scouter and was pleased with the results. "You shouldn't even bother trying to fight me, even if your Power Level is considerable. For, you see, you have a Power Level of 1,996,050, whereas I have a Power Level of 4,258,240. I more than double you in terms of power so, really, any attempts at hurting me really aren't going to go your way. Calm down."
She wasn't going to calm down anytime soon. Rather, she was livid. So livid, in fact, that the Arcosian could hardly finish her speech before Kocha tried to uppercut her with her foot.
Wyntre dodged the attack by moving her head slightly to the right. "Do you think that I am your enemy? I'll tell you who your enemies are, in no particular order: Zucceta, Habana, Vennel, Koldar, Shemha, Xylo and Emer." Kocha didn't know who a few of those people were, such as the last one. Wyntre didn't like Emer because of his stupid smug face. "I am not your enemy. I am Wyntre Cold, Rightful Empress of Arcose, and I ask that you calm yourself."
She was pretty sure at this point that Kocha wasn't listening. She could tell because Kocha had been attempting to hit her with a constant and unchanging amount of effort. This was good: it meant that Wyntre didn't have to try any harder to dodge.
The gravity was on 150x. It had been for a while, since Kocha had first activated her… it wasn't just the Super Saiyan transformation, was it? No, it was more than that. Her sclera was white, her iris red and her pupils indistinguishable from her iris, the sign of an Arcosian, representing the biological niche of accessing the 'Full-Power' of an Arcosian's power. There was also something different about her horns, something hard to place: they didn't seem any different, but there was something eerily strange about them now. Perhaps this was was because of the amount of her genetic material that was demonic in origin, perhaps it was nothing, Wyntre could not have said for certain. There was also the case of the increased muscle mass… it wasn't too noticeable at first, since bigger muscles don't seem too significant when compared to big spiky hair and a nigh-complete color palette swap. This was reminiscent of the Ro'Shi transformation seen on a few human martial artists she had met over the years, but also with the Arcosian 'Full-Power' factor. To call this merely Super Saiyan would be to mislead. Rather, what it was was something more along the lines of a Super Synthesis™. It had so much potential, she had so much potential, she just needed a proper teacher to bring out her potential. Perhaps Wyntre was not suited for this: she had only ever started training a year or so ago and most of her power had come from raw natural potential alone. But, then again… she did achieve the legendary Royal Form.
Ah, yes, the Royal Form. She briefly wondered if Kocha could attain such a form: it was probable, she decided, considering how much of her own genetic material was in Ribonu. Then that brought on the question of if Kocha could attain more powerful Saiyan transformations… it was deemed unlikely that Ribonu reacted at all with Blutz waves, hence she could not become some version of an Oozaru, but there was a strange new transformation, the Super Saiyan 2 form, that Wyntre had seen in use a few times through video recordings and from her unsavory time spent in the depths/surface (mostly surface) of hell.
Did Majins have transformations? She remembered some of her (mis)adventures with Zexama and how she increased in power sometimes and never came back down or how she would absorb someone and gain physical or personality attributes like that of the absorbed, but she didn't really think that that sort of thing counted. Namekians were alike in this regard: actual transformations of theirs didn't seem to influence their appearance and/or didn't go away.
That reminded her: Namekians. She couldn't quite seem to find any Namekian traits in her, but perhaps seeing if there were any would horribly backfire if there weren't. Of course, surely, there would be better ways to test Namekian regeneration than cutting an arm off.
"You made me watch my mother die!"
Oh, that's right, we're still fighting. I was lost in thought for a moment there. Well, alas, it seems that poor Ms. Kinoko is, indeed, in control of herself well enough to use a correctly-structured sentence. She's far better than most SSE members in that regard.
"And was it not worth it? You're leagues above where you were before!" Wyntre caught her punching fist in the same manner that Kocha did to the simulated demon from before. She held her fist tight and caught her other one when that was used to free the first hand. "Now you can stand up and give a good fight to whichever force attempts to invade Scobia, if ever such an event comes to pass. Does that not please you?"
Apparently the answer was 'no'. No, that did not seem to please her, not one bit. Or, perhaps it would have pleased her, if she had listened. Was she even listening? No, probably not. Did it even matter? No, probably not.
"You had me shot through the heart… you had me experience the pain of death. Do not claim that it was for the greater good."
Yes, that was true, in a way. Except… death, itself, wasn't painful. The pain she felt was not the pain of death, but the pain of having a hole shot through one's heart. "Pain is instantaneous at any given point of pain. In any moment, there is only one moment of pain, with all pain that preceded merely being the memory of pain. The point is… memories fade quickly and pain fades with it. This transformation, though, what you are in now, it is worth the pain, as it will last until your death and perhaps will even continue on from then. It was worth it, as I'm sure you'd agree once you're thinking rationally."
"Pride of Scobia!"
Wyntre knew what that meant.
That meant lasers eyes.
With no time to spare, Wyntre brought her tail between Kocha's eyes and where she was aiming. If all went well…
Success! Wyntre concentrated and used her psychic shield over her tail to safely absorb the red ki eye-beams. When the beams stopped shooting, she slapped Kocha across the face with her tail, echoing when Kocha slapped Wyntre just prior to the simulation starting.
"Computer. Give us somewhere to fight."
The gravity chamber faded away into nothing, only to be replaced with the surface of a barren, rocky world. Above them were three giant red stars, locked in a gravitational equilibrium that was only to be released from its immortality by their inevitable deaths.
Kocha, however, didn't seem to have noticed. She did not notice the barren world below them, or the spiteful suns above, as all of her attentions were made to be of their fight and her rage.
Kocha threw Wyntre into the planet below with unrestrained force as massive splinters of rock were thrown into the deepest chasms of space. Wyntre thoughtfully looked at her opponent, embedded in her Wyntre-shaped hole. With only a thought, the rocks and rabble were telekinetically pushed from their places.
Kocha flew towards the planet-bound Arcosian, fists ready, but Wyntre anticipated her strike and went through Kocha's fist— as well as her entire body— through a burst of intangibility. She tried to strike her from behind, but her blow was harmlessly sent to the side with Kocha's tail, a product of Ribonu's large amount of Arcosian genetic material.
Wyntre was well-versed in the intricacies of Arcosian Martial Arts, however, and knew just what to do in that sort of situation.She grabbed Kocha's tail, but saw that she could do more than that: by grabbing ahold of Kocha's wings as well, she could prevent her from trying to send her away by flapping and could squeeze as a way to dissuade her from doing… just about anything, actually.
Kocha, in a moment of clarity, remembered a conversation that she had with her father during the time when she was being Scobia's superhero. Feuskry was trying to set up a basic simulator device so that she could learn to fight— she was already quite martially competent, as she had been taught to fight quite extensively by her mother, but that didn't take account for her new wings or tail. Feuskry told her about this sort of hold. He told her how not to get put in this sort of hold, but it was a bit too late for that at this point. No, what she needed to know was how to get out of the hold. Rage smoked her mind over, but she soon remembered what her father would tell her about this hold:
'Do not get put in this hold.'
"Calm down, Kocha. The only techniques that would be able to get you out of this sort of hold are, coincidentally, techniques that I specialize in." Those were, specifically, the Death Beam techniques, which would have allowed her to shoot a quick yet intense beam of death at her from her tail or fingers as well as the Intangibility techniques, which would have simply let her phase through her grasp. Hypothetically, a technique that would allow her to change size would allow her to escape the hold, as well.
Ribonu had Majin donors, however, donors whose genetic material would have, in some capacity, made it in. What would Majin genetic material even allow one to do? Wyntre wasn't positive on how Majin genetic sequencing even worked— Zexama seemed to indicate that they just 'were'— but, if such systems were compatible, such traits might have come over. The liking of food was more a mental trait, a trait the computer knew not to add, but perhaps something else got in, like a general elasticity…
Or, a bit more than that, the ability to shapeshift.
Kocha's wings and tail suddenly extended greatly, pushing Wyntre to the side and letting Kocha to be free of the hold. Her extra limbs changed back to their usual sizes, leaving her in amazement of them. Her tail changed shape before her very eyes as it developed new ends and spiky bits and grew and shrunk, all so quickly. "I didn't know I could do this…" she said, not entirely sure who she was saying it for, "… there's so much more genetic material with uses I haven't found. Perhaps all of it has a use."
Wyntre, unharmed, was pleased to see her tail's changing shape had knocked her out of her state of rage and into one of wonderment. Even still, she burnt with the overenthusiastic light of a Super Saiyan.
"Yes, all of it does have a use. However, most of it is already in use. That is to say, they are passively and constantly being used to make changes to your body's systems. No other race is naturally as strong as you, Kocha, except perhaps some of the especially lucky Arcosians." With the exclusion of that whole recent 'training' thing, Wyntre was one of those especially lucky Arcosians. The Royal Lineage had much potential but, alas, there was no one else but her to have it. No one else that she was aware of, at least, as all two of her known siblings were dead and because Vetur, her father, had left no known bastards. Nor, it seemed, did he have any brothers… alive ones, at least. No, it seemed that she was the last hope of the Royal Line… a line which had temporarily been snuffed out by the fool, Zucceta.
Kocha looked to Wyntre. The bio-android's tail had stopped changing shape and had fallen to her side. "I will surpass them. I will become the strongest in the galaxy. No one would be able to escape justice, then."
The Arcosian thought about her words well. Vaguely menacing, but it would be fine as long as she never made justice personal, as long as its definitions were not changed and as long as her personal vendettas didn't get in the way.
"There are those much more powerful than you out there. Solar Saiyans, Earthlings, Mazoku, they all have warriors that could best you, warriors that could best me. If you cannot defeat me, the weakest faction leader, how could you stand a chance against the strongest faction leader? We will need to work on your power, Kocha, just as we will need to work on mine. You have achieved the power you have set out to receive, congratulations, but you can achieve so much more. Now that you're more agreeable… are you OK?"
Rage still flowed through her, even if it was in the back of her mind. Imagine my luck, a Scobian/Kondorian hybrid going Super Saiyan. She spread her hands in the space between her horns and felt her hair, her distinctly different hair, rustle and stand. It glowed, it radiated power, yet it was so soft…
She then decided to never style her hair again, if this was an option…
"I feel fine. Powerful, strangely so, but fine. Ah, Computer? Give me a mirror."
The Computer seemed unsure. Wyntre gave it a nod. Instants later, a simulated hand-mirror materialized itself in Ms. Kinoko's hand.
She looked at her face through the mirror in admiration and shock. She tried to move her hair about, but it adamantly stayed in its one position. Her eyes, like an Arcosian's, creeped her a bit out, though, the white and red reminding her of some stereotypical thought-up edgy-looking monster. Her skin, too, all of her skin, now shone with the gold of a Super Saiyan. She moved the mirror to look at her general frame and noted how much larger she was.
"It hurts, now that I'm not fighting. I'm using Super Saiyan, yes, but I seem to be using 100% of the power invested in me by your genetic material. Now that I'm not fighting, now that adrenaline isn't making me focus on the fight, the strain kinda hurts."
She powered down to her original state and watched with intrigue as her muscles decreased in size and changed color. Her skin and hair went from gold to red and blue respectively as her hair stopped being spiky and become something far more sensible. Her eyes reverted from the Arcosian red to the Kondorian yellow, Ribonu's normal eye color.
"It's gone now," she proclaimed as she discarded the mirror and started to keep maintain eye contact with her new mentor, "That's enough of the Super Saiyan transformation for now, I want to get used to it over multiple training periods. Oh, and, Wyntre?"
Oh? "Yes?"
Kocha flew right up to her, her stance giving no indication of the intent to attack. Wyntre forced herself to not enter a combat stance and to instead trust that the nearing Ms. Kinoko didn't seek to attack her. Instead of what would have happened not long ago, Wyntre found herself embraced in a short hug. "Thank you."
Huh. The culture on Scobia must have really been tolerant of hugs; on Arcose, only family and the closest of friends hugged, and never in training.
"I suppose, then, that we can train outside of that form. I'll be suppressing my Power Level to two hundred and fifty thousand and making it so that that is effectively my Power Level. Can you do the same?"
250,000.
Yes, apparently she could. She nodded in confirmation as well, if the scouter readings weren't confirmation enough.
"Brilliant. Then, Computer, if you would: bring us to a populated Arcosian-controlled planet. Have it so that the SSE is invading. Actually, no, how about we make this more personal? Here's the scenario: I returned to Arcose, drove out the Mazoku influence, as well as all of the Mazoku, became Empress and then regained all of the worlds that were rightfully a part of the Arcosian Empire. The Mazoku Dominion is continually made smaller and smaller until the only world it controlled was Namek. In a joint Earth-Saiyan-Arcosian invasion, the Mazoku were defeated, Xylo was slain and Namek was diplomatically annexed, with Earth support, by the Arcosian Empire to defend it from the inherently-destructive Solar Saiyans. Angered by this notion, they fought back, enacting even more brutal and immoral policies and tried to take back worlds. They start with Scobia for no real reason. Computer, enact it."
"Of course, Lady Cold."
And it was made so. Scobia could be seen below them, far below: Scobia (the planet's only city) on Scobia (the planet's only landmass) on Scobia (Scobia's only Scobia). It was a vast city, but not very tall and not made with very advanced materials. All that was not Scobia (the landmass) was the Scobian Waters (or, to the local inhabitants, the Elsewhere) which housed many useful gaseous resources that had been only waiting to be used, resources which only had been used because simulated Empress Wyntre was around to make it happen. The simulated Scobians were quite happy, as there were no longer any natural occurrences of the gas leaking into the water and driving the beasts of the deep towards the city.
"You were on Scobia being a hero when the invasion occurred. She was able to hold off the forces for long enough to have me arrive: Zexama and Brisk were on a mission elsewhere, defending another planet from the grasp of the Solar Saiyan Empire."
It was only then when Kocha had noticed the specks and the even smaller dots surrounding the planet from all direction: the Solar Saiyan vessels and their soldiers, many of which shooting the surface of the world with the power of their ki. Surely, not only average Saiyans were taking over, but also exceptional warriors. It was a likelihood, Kocha realized, that below they would be likely to face a Super Saiyan.
"You and I were already on the surface of the planet and had just defended Senate House from a Solar Saiyan warrior and the leader of the invasion."
In a blink, the two of them found themselves much closer to the surface of Scobia: the ground itself was only a few meters away. Behind them was the building that housed the governing body that controlled the planet: Senate House. In there was represented the people of Scobia through representatives: twelve seats were designated to the twelve hermits of the planet, twelve seats were designated to the four sages of the planet (three seats each), ten seats were designated to the ten captains (the democratically-elected 'leaders' of the city's subdivisions), one seat for the Watcher of the Elsewhere and one seat for the representative of the Arcosian Empire, Feuskry. But, alas, the Senate was not in action: the 28 senators of the 36 seats were all held in separated Arcosian-sponsored emergency bunkers, along with much of the population.
The building itself stuck out like a sore thumb, as it was made out of expensive and firm materials and was the only conventionally-tall building in the entirety of the city. Perhaps the Saiyans attacked it directly because they knew of its significance, or perhaps it looked different enough to seem as if it might be important. The Arcosian-built Senate House was built to replace the Scobian one, a shabby building made to replace the old one which was destroyed during the Mazoku invasion, which was itself a less grande version of the one before the Saiyan invasion which it replaced.
Wyntre hadn't gone into any detail about the main attacker, deciding to leave such details to the computer. The computer was good at making original and believable characters and suiting personalities and the Arcosian looked forward to what it would create.
Wyntre's scouter alerted her to an abnormally high Power Level reading, even among the likes of the Saiyan warriors, the hermits and the sages. It belonged to a male Saiyan and— if his armor gave any indication— he was in charge of the Saiyan invasion force.
His armor was the sort of shade of red you'd expect from someone who was trying too hard to invoke blood imagery. His shoulder-guards were too long and too spiky to be standard grade and an assortment of neatly-organized badges, medallions and war commendations found themselves firmly fastened to a sash that came across his torso horizontally. His hair was spiky yet short and almost seemed to curve upwards while had an evil-looking beard that looked well-groomed.
"Empress Wyntre!" He yelled this from afar as he caught sight of her before beginning to fly into a closer proximity.
It didn't feel strange, being called 'Empress'. It felt strange normally, as if it was mockery that pointed out her failures to remain Empress/not die. Here, though, in a simulated world where she was the Empress, she didn't feel insulted at all… even when it was said in such a way as that it was meant to be.
"I am Captain Arwort of the Solar Saiyan Invasion Force. I was on Arcose, I was on Kanassa, I was on Earth, I was on Arcose again! No matter where you turn, I'll be here… and, with the power that has been awakened in me, I can defeat you."
Kocha stole the words right out of Wyntre's mouth: "Half of the invasions that you just listed resulted in a loss for the SSE."
Oh, she was going to be proud of those clever quips. They were much like her own, but it was always strange hearing them coming from someone else.
"Perhaps, but ever still! During the Invasion of Earth, after nearly being defeated by some measly hermit's student, I had awakened the power that I deserve. I had become… a Super Saiyan! And, now, when the Queen sees the decapitated heads of the Empress and her Superhero lackey once I give them to her, well… I will be very highly rewarded. How about you two just kill yourselves, saving me the effort? We all know that the Empress isn't a match for a Super Saiyan after the sacking."
Golden energy began to flow around him as he powered up to full energy. 250,000PL. But, even from then, his power seemed insistent on rising even higher still.
Gold flashed through his hair.
"I am much more powerful than Zucceta was. I can defeat Super Saiyans with ease, I have a Super Saiyan Match Rating of 4 when I power up fully."
Her own Power Level, at that moment, was 3,507,528. Kocha's Power Level was, when in her Super Synthesis form, 2,192,205. Wyntre was able to enter the Royal Form at any moment, a transformation which would boost her Power Level all the way to 4,676,704.
Gold flowed through Captain Arwort as his eyes glistened with a new color for only a moment.
He let out a shout to the heavens as she let the golden rage of the Super Saiyan take him over.
3,750,000PL.
"Oh yeah?" he began, a new style of golden hair getting in the way of his vision, "Well, I'm pretty sure mine's way bigger." It wasn't. He had a Super Saiyan Match Rating of only a bit over three.
Kocha was wondering what the purpose of the fight was. Wyntre could transform whenever she so pleased, she reasoned, a transformation that would allow her the power to defeat such a foe with ease. This didn't particularly pose a challenge to them if they fought together, and she was sure that 'teamwork' wasn't the focus of the lesson because she knew too well for that. No, she realized, there must be more: either another enemy combatant was going to enter the fray or the current one was somehow going to receive a power boost. But, from where would a Saiyan receive an unprecedented and unreasonably powerful transformation from out of nothing?
Dear Ms. Kinoko was not sure if she would be able to reawaken her transformation, as she was not nearly powerful enough to face the Saiyan with her usual power. It took a lot of effort and a lot of relived trauma to activate it for the first time: surely, though, it would be easier to activate after that first time. She gathered her energy and focused on her power.
Her ki exploded with blue in a magnificent aura which cracked the very ground beneath her feet. She focused on her rage— she focused on Gesivii, and her role in life, and how much it pained her that she was no longer around. She thought of Scobia and the invasions it had been forced to endure. She thought off the planets out there, the innumerable and beautiful jewels in the sky, and thought about all of the atrocities she would be able to prevent, if only she were more powerful. She focused on the simulated moment when her mother's blood mixed with her own through their shared imageries. She focused on how much it hurt, yes, but she also focused on how she stood anyway.
And, in only a moment, power overcame her.
Gold flowed through her and colored her skin in its might. Her hair was similarly chromatically empowered and gained the symmetrical spiky design from before. Her eyes, once yellow, now bore the red mark of Arcosian power. Her muscles expanded considerably, too, but even this was a poor indicator of the massive power she had gained.
It was ironic, then, that the strongest looking of the three combatants was the weakest.
"Even now, with my entire body burning with power, with what was invested in me by oh so many species… even now, your untransformed state is still more powerful than what I can accomplish. Even the enemy, a normal Saiyan with a transformation, looms over me in terms of power." This angered her considerably. She flung herself towards Arwort, fists ready. "You, Saiyan scum! I am the culmination of just about all of the races of the galaxy: races you have tormented, races you had mistreated… races who will have their revenge, through me! You are an idiot with insecurity issues! Fall by my fist!"
Logically, yes, it made little sense as to why this boring usual Saiyan warrior was so much better than the optimized organism… perhaps you could have even called it the perfect organism. Perhaps there was a reason for it, however: perhaps Kocha, having constantly having lived with such Power Level before Ribonu, has not mentally adjusted to the sort of power made available to her by her body. Or, perhaps, all of the power that she had was only natural and that the true power of the perfect organism could only come out through an extensive honing of the body.
Meanwhile, Arwort had caught, without too much trouble, Kocha's fists. "I am not an idiot and I do not have insecurity issues," he said, not entirely convinced of the truth of those words, "I am Captain Arwort, a Super Saiyan of the mighty Solar Saiyan Empire! My power comes through struggle and emotion— real warriors like myself will always be more powerful than science experiments and stuck-up royals."
Wyntre flew at him with a speed that made Kocha's look not very impressive. She struck his hands, the sheer force of the strikes forcing him to release Kocha's hands, who made the most out of the situation to place a few moderately-effective blows against his large torso.
"I have gained access to the Royal Transformation and am on my way, I believe, to perhaps unlocking a form beyond even that. It is mostly my natural potential that has allowed me this power… the power to bring peace, and the power to defeat you. This 'stuck-up royal' is your better in every aspect and that 'science experiment' is a better fighter— and a better person— than what you could ever even hope to accomplish."
The Empress and the Superhero jumped back to gain some more distance. Even if they had the advantage together, even Wyntre was at a disadvantage in terms of power if she and Arwort were to fight each other one-on-one, as long as she didn't transform or use any of her more special techniques.
But, once again, after a quick telepathic countdown, they sent their bodies flying towards the Saiyan, who had since recovered from the attacks which has been sent his way. Arwort had a strategy, however— he believed that he would be able to defeat Wyntre in a one-on-one fight, the only thing that stood in the way of that being that annoying Superhero type, Kocha. So, then, all he'd need to do is defeat her and then just deal with the rest. It shouldn't even be particularly difficult, either, considering the gap in power between them.
That power gap wasn't as large as Arwort considered it to be, however. He didn't have a scouter, presumably for vanity reasons, so he had to judge power by how they reacted to him hitting them and how he reacted by having them hit him. Wyntre, on the other hand, had access to numerical representations of this power and, as such, knew exactly how big such a gap in power would be: displayed in percentage, Kocha had almost sixty percent of the power that he had.
Even now, the thought that this mere Super Saiyan could overpower her enraged Kocha. She was the ultimate culmination of evolution! So, why o why, was she so weak? It angered her, how the Saiyan could almost dismiss her strikes. It angered her, how he spoke of her. It angered her, how he just wouldn't die. It was this anger that she used to strike her foe with extra force. It was this anger that she hoped would allow her victory.
"Your bloodline of royals and nobles, with natural power passed down through the generations, can barely face up to one Saiyan! Imagine if you fought an army of Super Saiyans— oh, how glorious that would be!"
The concept of having the SSE develop an army of Super Saiyans was not a new one: it was an end-of-the-world scenario (or, rather, an end-of-intelligent-life-in-the-galaxy scenario) that only effectively all psychohistorians agreed would result in the end of civilization. It was right up there with the 'what if reality forgot to exist?' scenario.
"Then I would slay the entire army myself!" proclaimed Kocha, angrily punching Arwort's everything.
He brought his hand forward and grabbed Kocha's head, where she was powerless as he began to force pressure onto her skull. "You forget, Captain." Apparently he knew her alias. "You cannot defeat even one Super Saiyan."
The sheer power of Kocha's aura was fueled by the entirety of her rage. The awe-inspiring power of it knocked Arwort back and forced his hands from her head and temporarily stunning him.
"Oh, really?" she began, making the most of his stun with strikes and blows, "And which Super Saiyan is that? For all I see before me is an Empress and a pitiful warrior!"
Wyntre, too, made the most out of the situation by shooting a Death Beam at his heart. But, alas, his body moved slightly, having the Death Beam go straight through not the heart, but the solar plexus. The Saiyan, shocked, could only put his hand to the small hole in his chest and be surprised by the blood he saw.
"You—! I might… I might actually lose this! No, no, we can't have that." He pointed at Wyntre and began to address her directly: "Be proud, Empress. I will show you a power I had only used once before…"
And, with that, Arwort sacrificed an amount of what little intelligence he had left for even more power.
Ki exploded around him.
"What I'm about to show you is the true power of the Saiyan race. Behold! Super Saiyan 2!"
Whoever named that transformation was an idiot.
BOOM.
6,250,000PL.
His aura seemed to explode with a strange electricity. His hair, once silly-looking, was just kind of absurd.
This was the power of a Super Saiyan 2. Perhaps the Saiyan side of her would be able to achieve this transformation, too… after she had developed a sort of mastery over the Super Synthesis, perhaps she could attain a transformation beyond even it.
His was a power that was too large for them to handle, even together. No, Wyntre decided, she'd need more power. Fortunately, 'more power' is precisely what she had available to her. The Royal form, the pride of Arcose: she had been using it for quite a while and had, recently, decided to try to master it. Her attempts had always gone wrong, however: the technique that she had used to master her True Form (forcing oneself to live in, eat in and even sleep in that form at all times) was not working with the Royal form, as the strain was always too great and she would always revert back to her Mastered True form in her sleep whenever it was tried. She came to a single conclusion when it came to mastering such a transformation: be powerful enough for her body to be able such energies at all times. She did not know how powerful she would have to be to master it, she did not know if she had already passed it and she did not know if her previously-used transformation-mastering technique would work.
She had developed a sort of mastery over it, though, which showed in how easily she could activate it. Like, for instance…
Wyntre activated her Royal form. It happened in a fraction of a second in a blink-and-you-miss-it opportunity. Her height almost doubled, her muscle mass increased at least that much and her bio-armor shifted around to accommodate for the difference in frame.
"You're hardly the only one with more transformations. Behold, foolish Saiyan, for I am Empress Wyntre Cold of the Arcosian Empire! Vow your fealty to myself and I'll have you spared. Stand down."
4,676,704PL.
While at first shocked, Arwort could only laugh. He laughed and giggled, making a fool of himself and discrediting his transformation. "Well, it seems you've made a mistake, Empress, because my power still trumps yours. I mean, really, if you knew what was best, you'd be vowing yourself to the Solar Saiyan Empire, the rightful owner of the Galaxy!"
I hate everything you just said. I hate everything you stand for. I hate you.
"Oh, please. The administration of the Solar Saiyan Empire is inherently destructive and cannot properly sustain itself without slaughter; if the Empire you hold so dear did, indeed, conquer the entirety of the galaxy, with no more to slaughter, it would implode and erupt into many different dueling factions, leading to a cycle of reunification through violent force and continually splitting into smaller Empires when there are no more enemies to face until there aren't enough Saiyans to form Empires or until the heat death of the universe makes them impossible. The Saiyans don't rightfully own any part of the galaxy at all, with the only possible exception being Vegeta itself. So, to conclude: everything you said was stupid, misguided and wrong. Also, you have the mental faculties of a pane of glass."
Enraged by the Empress' comments, Arwort flung himself towards her and swung at her, full-force. But, alas, Wyntre was used to idiots trying to win conversations through violence, and knew exactly what to do.
"Wha—? What did you do? How are you unharmed?"
Yes, what did she do? Well, it was quite simple, but also very much not so. It was simple in that she merely 'phased' her body so that his fist went straight through her intangible frame with no harm being done to her. It was very much not simple, however, in that the way she did it required a nigh-absolute understanding of quantum vibration theory and an immense degree of control over her body, her ki and the way the two interacted.
Meanwhile, in the distance, Kocha was charging an attack. Ki built around her… if Wyntre can keep him distracted enough for me to charge this, she decided, I'd be able to do massive damage.
"Maybe it's because you didn't hit me hard enough."
Somehow even angrier, be began a series of strikes and attempted holds that, by the looks of it, were made for the sole purpose of ripping all of someone's limbs of. But, alas, when he opened his eyes, the Empress wasn't even touched. No, worse, she hadn't even moved.
"I think you may have missed."
Arwort was furiously swiping at her, continually using larger and larger increments of his entire power until he was striking as powerfully as his body could handle. But, despite his greatest efforts, she remained. She stood there, still unaffected, as if none of his attacks had any effect on her at all.
"… What did you do? It's witchcraft!"
Telekinetically, her sword levitated out of its scabbard as if it were being handled by a respectful and skilled sword expert… and, indeed, it was, telekinetically. It was the Arcosia, a technological marvel made by different experts of different scientific fields working in unison to create the culmination of their work. It incorporated the processes of at least three biotechnological organisms Wyntre had met along her travels and was even fine-tuned by an artificial intelligence that had been created for that purpose. The sword moved around in front of her, but she telekinetically directed it into her hand.
"I moved in a matter described in my scientific paper, 'Defining the Relationship Between Quantum Vibration Theory and Ki'. To put it simply: I can become intangible. To put it so simply that even an illiterate malcontent like yourself could understand it: the only way you'd be able to hit me is if I wished to be hit. However, since I do not wish to be hit, it could be said with absolute certainty that you are not able to hit me." She gave a little laugh. "But, please, go ahead. Try to hit me. Try to squash me. Try to prove how much better you are than all of us 'filthy lizards'. Go ahead, make my day."
It wasn't witchcraft either, as he had erroneously claimed. Witchcraft was a highly specific and inefficient manner in which to practice magic that was much like the manner in which warlocks practiced magic, except there weren't any boys allowed (at least not since the great cooties outbreak of '31). Magic itself was an area that Wyntre's scientists had spent some time understanding. It followed rules and could, potentially, have been useful in a hostile environment, but what the Empress did was something else entirely.
Meanwhile, as if somehow below notice, Arwort hadn't learnt his lesson and chose that a more productive alternative than anything useful would be the equivalent of mindlessly attacking the air.
"You can't keep doing this forever. I'll hit you eventually! And one hit is all it will take to defeat you, Lizard Queen!"
That was true, she would not be able to do this forever: the universe would end eventually. But, before that, in a few hundred million years, the simulator would stop working (assuming no one knew anything about maintenance). But, before that, in (hopefully) at least a few thousand years, Wyntre would die of old age. But, before that, she'd run out of energy. But, before that, Arwort would run out of energy.
Wyntre only had an advantage through this because Arwort was too stubborn to try to something else, mind you. She'd be struggling if she were fighting an intelligent and similarly-powered foe.
OK, that's time enough.
"Perhaps you should have a few moments rest. I promise, I won't try to attack you."
"Ha!" He seemed almost insulted. "As if I'd fall for that. I know you too well, Wyntre! We are aware of your slimy ways! You won't trick me, not one bit; you'd probably just trick me with some strange special technique of yours that'd kill me in one hit."
Wyntre considered those words. Meanwhile, in the distance, Kocha's eyes were burning to due her difficulty in containing all of the ki she was putting there for her attack...
"Well, you're half right. Yes, it's 'some strange specal technique', I suppose I'm tricking you into being hit by it and it will kill you in one hit... what you got wrong, though, is that it isn't my technique."
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"PRIDE..."
The red came out of Kocha's eyes in a massive attack.
"... OF..."
As his last action, Arwort looked back at the massive red beam headed straight for him.
"... THE..."
Arwort's last word had four letters and ended in 'fuck'.
"... GALAXY!"
And, in only a moment, hell itself seemed to rip into him.
He never stood a chance.
Subsequently...
