Post by Porshen on Nov 6, 2017 5:28:07 GMT
Characters, Setting, and Mood
Character's Present - Porshen, NPC Saiyans
Location - The Slum District of Radittsu
Time of Day - Evening
Mood - Tense and Pensive
Song - Somewhere I Belong - Linkin Park
Walking Broken Streets
The evening sky, already turning a vivid orange where the smog didn't distort the color, seemed to cast the perfect hue over Porshen as he placed a broken scouter at the base of the withered tree that marked his creator's grave.
It wasn't much but the dead man's memories told him that Tycho wouldn't have wanted more, not after having died as he had. Wondering what another would have done in his place the lone Bio-Android left turned from the grave, the tree, and the lab hoping never to see them again. A bittersweet though but one brought from a place of confidence that he was meant for more than fighting for scraps in the slums of a dying world.
His aimless walk carried him away from the only place his short life had ever known and towards the more densely packed core of the Radittsu district. As he walked he saw the signs of a place without hope; graffiti, broken windows, trash in gutters and on sidewalks, beggars, gangs, and a level of casual violence that even a Saiyan might question. He had memories of all of this but they had never before combined with experience and Porshen found himself wondering how anybody could live this way and, at the same time, how any single warrior could change it?
Littered throughout the dim grimy streets, quickly darkening as taller buildings hid the already setting sun, were splashes of neon. Most of them advertising shops selling cheap wares for inflated prices, others offering easy loans to afford the aforementioned goods, and, scummier than the rest, places offering quick ways into the upper class. He thought of how easy it would be to toss a blast of ki up into those last signs but he didn't want the attention that doing so would cause. So, on he walked.
The insidious nature of the slums worked on him as he continued his aimless walk into yet denser and darker sections of Radittsu. Eventually, he thought that, of all the signs that offered a way out of her, the gladiatorial teams must surely be the best. He searched his mind for Tycho's thoughts on the matter and got fuzzy impressions and fragments of matches that his creator had watched. If I had his thoughts might I think of them the same as the other false offers?
Lost in his thoughts he never noticed when his path took him through an alley and past a pack of lowlife's wearing beat-up armor and obviously looking for an easy target. In fact, their leader's call of, "Hey, big guy, why don't you stop and lend us a few Zennie. We're good for it..." Was the first he realized just what a fog he was in. He quickened his pace not wanting a fight.
An empty bottle shattered on the wall next to him after being thrown with more force than accuracy by one of the toughs and Porshen turned to face them asking, "Are you sure about this? Six on one doesn't seem fair when you can't even throw straight."
The Battle Begins
Porshen - 800+ PL, No transformation, No items, 3KP
Saiyan Thugs x5 - 200PL, 0KP
Saiyan Leader - 400PL, 0KP
Saiyan Thugs x5 - 200PL, 0KP
Saiyan Leader - 400PL, 0KP
Whichever of the Saiyan thugs had thrown the bottle made a grave mistake. The sound gave Porshen the warning he needed to spin and counter an onrushing Saiyan with a hard punch to the solar plexus. The impact cracked armor and, judging by how the attacker fell, broke ribs as well. The warrior would survive but likely wouldn't rise in time to rejoin the fight.
If the sudden fall of their friend shook the attacking gang members Porshen never noticed it. Instead, he was stuck dodging and block the attacks of the four other warriors that were bare steps behind the first Saiyan. Four versus one could never be called easy but as he found his rhythm the Bio-Android came to realize that none of his attackers came anywhere near his strength, speed, and skill. For every hit they landed, he managed one as well, and it didn't often take more than one or two of his punches or kicks to leave them limping or with an arm hanging broken and useless at their side.
Yet they nipped at him and hounded him into a corner where his advantages were made less. Two would come in and two would fall back and each wave would come with a volley of ki blasts covering the switch. He was wearing down at the same rate as they were and he knew that there was another one out there, likely stronger than the rest, waiting for a chance to nail him with something stronger than a punch, kick, or tiny puff of ki. Knowing that he wasn't winning by holding back Porshen made up his mind to stop wounding and start killing.
With a sudden flaring of his aura and shout of anger, he lunged forward with a heavy punch. His fist hit armor, flesh, bone, organs, and then air as his Piston Punch tore through an attacker and left him dead before he hit the ground. The other three backed up and came in again more cautiously, this time joined by their still fresh leader.
"We were just going to beat you unconscious and rob you but you had to go and kill Pinta," said the leader in a voice that suggested Pinta might just be an excuse for violence that was always going to come.
"And I was going to keep walking and let you live..." said Porshen in a flat, unimpressed tone, trailing off as his punch clashed with the leader's punch and left the smaller and weaker Saiyan backing off and shaking a bruised fist.
"Most alleys in Radittsu have a toll you should have paid it and walking would have stayed an option."
Porshen said nothing but was forced to block another flurry of attacks as two of the weaker thugs came at him with renewed strength. He blocked and tried to spin away from the wall to buy himself space but their attack was a feint. The gang had practiced this attack before and as the Bio-Andoird moved the two harassers pulled back and allowed their leader and the other tough to launch there charged beams of ki into him.
He tried to use afterimage to dodge, but he hadn't seen the attack coming and he only mostly avoided it. He spun out into open space missing his left arm and bleeding from the stump at his shoulder. Most people would have felt despair at this turn of events but Porshen knew something that his attackers didn't. Laughing he dashed forward, dodging a ki blast at point blank, and smashing a fist into another thugs head hard enough to burst it like ripe fruit.
"Nice try but if that's all you have you'd better run," Porshen said, still chuckling from a combination of a fighter's high and the flood of endorphins rushing into to take the edge off of his pain.
"There are still three of us and you're bleeding. I think you should give up and we'll only take your other arm and a leg instead of your life," the gang leader said with a laugh of his own.
"If you say so."
Porshen faked a step back and then launched another Piston punch that caught a thug and left him crumpled on the dirt pavement like a deer hit by a truck. He smiled and defended a vicious flurry of punches, kicks, and ki blasts sent at him by his two remaining foes. With one arm it was an imperfect defense and he was left bruised across the left side of his ribs and bleeding from a gash over the eye on that same side. He was in a better position now facing just the two of them but a quick inward focused thought told him that he didn't have the energy for another one hit KO.
That didn't matter.
Smiling, he backed up, let out a yell that rattled nearby windows, and forced a new arm to burst out of the stump where his left arm had been a short while ago. Even as the skin on his arm faded from bright pink to his usual flesh tone the other minor injuries on his face and body fade. His ki reserves aside it was like he had just started the fight over again and with two-on-one odds in place of six-on-one.
"Shit, he's a freak. Run!" Cried the leader, too late to save his last remaining lacky as Porshen rocked him with a furious flurry of punches.
Porshen laughed the laugh of a victor as he beat the other back into a wall. He looked down into fearful pleading eyes and beat the nearly helpless Saiyan unconscious. With fists covered in blood and the beat of his heart in his ears he took flight and chased down his last mobile attacker.
"If it's money you want... or drugs! Yeah, we have drugs that can boost your power..." The former gang's leader pleaded as he pushed past a bum and dashed down a sparsely crowded and flickeringly lit sidewalk.
With a smile and slow shake of his head, Porshen stated, "Your life is my toll Saiyan. You can pay it like a warrior or let it come suddenly from behind."
"Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!" The Saiyan cried in panicked tones as he tripped and fell into the street.
Porshen landed on him, one foot on his neck and said, "From behind it is." A kick to that same neck ended the fight and the gang leader's life.
The Bio-Android looked around and was almost shocked when he saw that nobody seemed to worry. Instead, they stepped past him with heads down, careful to stay out of his reach. His high left him and he felt like a monster.
Aftermath
Porshen's feelings of shame and doubt saved the life of the thug he left alive in the alley. He had no desire to confront that abattoir so he put it all behind him and left the streets to fly among the smog and quickly purpling twilight. Alone, and for the first time, truly feeling it he let himself drift on the winds while letting his mind wander within itself.
~Fin