Double Edged Sword [Edoma] [INVITE]

[Thread PL: 23,582. Heavy Weights ON: 5895]

The blazing sun of the desert was a much needed change of pace from the blistering winds of the mountains, though of course, due to Edoma’s poor sense of direction, it was not where the teen intended to be. The hybrid was aiming south originally, trying to find solace from the cold in a more tropical climate, rather than the more arid sands. Pro, since changing out of his armor, the young saiyan found himself quite comfortable in the heat. Not to mention, the beautiful gradience brought on by the setting sun. Con, the flexible cast on his left leg was full of sand, as if his healing limb wasn’t itchy enough. That and the setting sun would also bring on more cold, the very thing the young fighter was trying to avoid. At least Edo kept to his word and would take it easy for a month or so.

Well sort of, the saiyan blood in the young hybrid’s body still called for action. That being said, Edoma didn’t go picking any fights, instead choosing to make the most of being lost in the desert. One of the cities the teen came across had a wanted poster, depicting some sort of goat man. A Zoanthrope he heard one of the people call him, last spotted near there. This would certainly be interesting, as this was the first time Edo never heard of a Zoan having a higher power level, nor had he even encountered any to begin with worth noting. Still, this goat interested him, depicted with white fur, horns, supposedly possessing some sort of mind control ability. Despite probably being a little too thick headed to control, Edoma still remained wary, making sure to keep an eye out for the bipedal mammal.

Of course, Edo didn’t find him, at least not through sight. A higher than average power level came into Edo’s senses, almost immediately putting him into a more battle ready stance. It was a little under twice his owned weighted power, not ideal but if worse came to worst, he could take off his own if he absolutely had to. He followed the energy to the source, keeping a fair distance away, only getting close enough to get a good look at the Zoanthrope. White fur, horns, though different clothing then he was told. Sill If the hybrid was on the run, he too would probably wear something different from his wanted poster. There a few things for the saiyan to consider, first being could this goat sense energy as well. Second, could Edo put up enough of a fight with a bad leg. So the teen figured he’d blast the goat man, he preferred blasts anyway. He began charging his signature Cherry Bomb, then realized that if his foe could sense energy as well, the teen would have given away his position. Hell, he may have already done just that just by charging the move. Edo started to panic, afraid he gave himself away, of course not being able to suppress his ki probably did that for him. Instead the teen decided to fire a regular blast, hoping to distract the goat. However, remembering what happened last time he tried to fight caused him once again to falter. Edo shook his head clear, telling himself that a good fight could actually do himself some good, help bring him back to the saiyan he used to be. Instead of firing directly at the target, Edoma decided to try and aim in front of him, in hope of not only distracting him, but also attempt to stop his forward progress.

(OOC: alright first time RP’ing in forever I hope this is any good)

As he hoped, Edoma’s blast was enough to halt the goat, bringing about a small smirk from the teen. What happened next, however, caused it to immediately vanish. As the young warrior watched the Zoan tap the sword at his waist, he then felt a much higher power level, seemingly coming from the same person. Could it be he was surprising his real power the entire time? Wouldn’t be unheard of, in fact it was something the teen planned on learning once he’s fully recovered. Still that was a lot of power all at once. Edo closed his eyes to try and get a better feel for things. It wasn’t one big one, but two powers, one massive compared to the other almost miniscule in comparison.

“Hey!” called the goat. This was enough to snap Edoma from his concentration.

A few more seconds passed, then the bounty raised his furry hands, dropping his blade to the ground. This certainly left the hybrid confused, though he refused to let his guard down. The way he saw it, he had two options, blast him now and have at least a somewhat element of surprise, or confront him and maybe get a good, though possibly one sided fight. Whether it was pride or just plain stupidity, Edo couldn’t bring himself to launch a sneak attack while his target appeared to be surrendering. It would have been the perfect opportunity too, or so he thought. Instead, he decided to make hi way over, though not without hesitation. As the young half breed drew closer, he noticed the large power level he sensed was the sword somehow. Not only that, but Edo got the most peculiar feeling from the blade now being held up by the sand. Could that be where the Zoan got his power, or perhaps how he could mind control people. Still, the teen not only wanted the sword as far away from its owner as possible, but from himself now as well.

“Now how about you tell me what you want with me, stranger?” Edo decided to compromise slightly. He glided over slowly, a single hand raised, ready to fire, though not at the target, but his weapon instead. He landed in front of the goat, wincing ever so slightly as his left leg touched the ground. He certainly wasn’t used to landing with an injured limb, but he already fought with it once, so he at least knew it wouldn’t slow him down too much. Regardless, the saiyan decided to make himself known, all the while answering his question.

“You’re a wanted man, and I’m aiming to collect.” He answered simply. He took some time to examine what he could see of the targets face. It matched the description almost entirely, with only two exceptions. For starters, there were no visible black lines on his face, though they could easily be covered up. However, the most striking detail was one of his eyes, or lack thereof. No one mentioned anything about him missing an eye, which, at least to the saiyan, a pretty big and defining feature. Still itching for a fight, Edoma changed his approach slightly. Originally, he was planning to blast the sword away, but the eye put him off slightly, causing him to scratch at his own scarred orbs with his free hand. Instead, He decided to try the intimidation route, a pinkish red orb forming in the palm of his raised hand. He wouldn’t say anything else until he did, instead charging his homing variant of Cherry Bomb, though not firing it yet.


(Charging [V2] - Cherry Seeker 33%)

Edo took a good second to scrutinize the goat, being extra sure to take in every detail, paying close attention to-

“aaaaAAAAUUUGH!!!” a voice cried in Edoma’s head, throwing off his concentration.

“Was… was that an attack?” the teen thought to himself, using his free hand to rub his temples. Well if it was it certainly was a pathetic one. That being said, the warrior figured if it was most likely not an attack. This was further enforced when the blade dropped by the goat Zoan flew up into the air. Its owner caught the sword, as the voice continued to cry about sand getting in it’s eye. Was that the sword talking? It must have been, the teen could sense it’s energy, meaning it must have been alive, plus the now reddened eye on the hilt gave it away.

This could have been the perfect time to fire, just take him while he’s distracted and claim some much needed money. However, his doubts about this man being an evil warlock from before were now even greater, as he watched from behind his glowing hand, as the goat helped his sword, with a tired but caring look in his eye. The power in Edo’s hand flickered, his hesitation now obvious, despite the fierce facade he held on his own face. The way the two talked to each other was just so friendly, close, showing the two had a genuine bond, even if it literally was just a goat dumping water onto his weapon.

The young fighter was ready to put his hand down, that was until the Zoan spoke. "So you came out here to get your bounty and reward, hm? Well... You have the right guy. But at the same time, you don't. It's... a long story that I can't tell."

That put Edoma back on a slight guard, not trusting the two. The sword, apparently named “G,” ended up once again putting the saiyans mind a bit more at ease, assuring him that this goat was just “a big fuzzy pushover.” Had the sword talked first, Edoma would have been more likely to just drop his hand and leave it at that, however now the teen was more curious about this untellable long story.

"Look. I don't want to fight you, so... Do what you will." The goat man continued, seemingly unaware of the swords comment. He looked so downtrodden, and sounded exhausted, similar to how the young saiyan found himself not even a week earlier in the frozen north. The teen still kept his concern hidden, the faded ball of ki in his hand however, might have told the true story.

The young hybrid kept his hand raised, continuing to charge his attack. “Sorry, but that’s not good enough,” he began, taking a step towards the odd couple. “How do I know you aren’t just trying to lull me into a false sense of security? I let down my guard and one of four things happen. You either run, attack me, mind control me, or end up telling the truth. That’s a 75% chance of me being screwed. So why don’t- GAH!” Edo hissed in pain, as he lost his footing on the uneven sands. He didn’t fall, however, the hybrid did forget about his broken leg, which seemed all too glad to remind him of its existence as his flexible cast slipped when he lost his footing.

“So why don’t you tell me a short version of your story…” the teen growled in slight anguish, his free hand rubbing his left knee. The cherry colored ki again flickered. Edoma managed to keep it going, however, he likely would not be able to charge it much longer. Thinking of how this man was now in a very familiar situation, caused Edo to hesitate both internally and externally, though the pain in his leg didn’t help, he must have looked pathetic, a dying cherry bomb in his hand, a shaking leg, and the look of frustrated pain written clearly on his face. Still, he was a stubborn teenager, and as such, he was set on having his way, even if that meant at the very least having his question answered.


(Charging [V2] - Cherry Seeker 66%)

Edo gave a sigh of defeat, while this certainly wasn’t mind control, the goat and his blade had quite the powers of persuasion. He let the orb of ki die down, figuring that he couldn’t hold it much longer anyways. He would’ve either had to shoot it then and there, or have it fizzle out on its own, both options seeming like poor choices. Besides, how could the teen possibly attack the two now, having been helped up to his feet, and once again seeing no intent to harm anyone.

Once the young hybrid gained a firm foothold, he immediately abandoned it to have a seat on the warm sand. There was no point in trying to fight, the gap in power was already a good jump away. Even if he took his weights off, the warrior was in no condition to fight anyone, especially someone with a sword with a power level more than four times higher than his own. Edoma took a second to shift the weight off his injured leg, bringing forth another sigh, this one of relief. “I really don’t need an enemy right now.” The teen thought aloud.

He then smirked towards the Zoan. He didn’t necessarily say he wouldn’t tell him the story in general, just not the whole story. He flew himself up a few feet, letting his tail drift lazily in the sand, drawing what to anyone else would appear as a random sequence of letters and numbers.

“Alright then, guess we’re at a bit of an impasse.” He began. Figuring it best to take a more passive approach, Edo wasn’t giving up just yet, and the sound of universal jeopardy sounded too interesting to just drop. “First let me say I’d never take anyone’s eyes,” the saiyan pointed to his own olive orbs. “I’ve been on the receiving end of that, you can’t see it from there but I still have scars around mine from a nice blast to the face, I’m lucky to be seeing anything at all.” The teen hoped establishing some common ground, as ever so slightly morbid as this one was, would help build some semblance of trust. “Now back on topic. We’re obviously both stuck not believing each other. You have no way of knowing if you can trust me, and I have no way of knowing that you really aren’t this evil version… of yourself.” Edo faltered slightly, the words sounding much clearer in his head. “Anyways…” he said shaking his head clear, “I only asked for a short version, though now your story sounds way too interesting to pass up.”

Edoma stopped his ramblings, deciding to just skip o the point. Noticing how uncomfortable this made the goat Zoan, the half breeds smirk faded, taking with it a deep breath. “Look,” he began, this time much more serious. “I can’t really say anything that would honestly help you trust me, and to tell the truth, what with the post you and the ‘real’ you looking different, and the fact you’re so quick to help others, I’m willing to concede that you are telling the truth, though not without hearing at least part of your universe endangering story.”

Edo took a quick moment to glance down at the sequence of numbers and letter he wrote in the sand, before angrily brushing them away, placing both, now rested rested feet back on the ground. “The poster said your name was Chai Schala. I’m Edoma Soya, though Edo works just fine.” The young warrior didn’t take a ready stance this time, however he did remain on guard for a sneak attack. “So until you tell me SOMETHING, I’m not letting you go just yet.”

“…uh-huh…”

That was it, the only words that would travel from the youth’s throat. A small signal of affirmation. Any sane person would have just blasted the two right then and there. The average warrior would have figured that this explanation was so outlandish, that it had to be a lie. Not Edoma though, not because he believed the goat without question. The teen accepted the explanation mostly for one reason. A small, weak, but continuous chuckle reverberated through the saiyan, steadily growing into a healthy, still quiet laughter.

“Damn old man, you’ve been busy since I’ve been gone.” He giggled to himself, though audible enough for anyone to hear. Edo managed to catch Chai’s muttered words, and recognized them almost immediately. “Ten months later and you’re still there to help me.”

As his laughter subsided the young warrior brought his attention back to his former target. “So a uhh… another universe?” Edo replanted himself onto the sand, rubbing his face in his hands. It was the most tickling slap in the face he’d ever received. “So you… that means… but…” the teen would continue to stammer, not sure how to begin to process this information. Had Edoma never met Ayumu, he could have just pass the Zoans words as lies, and probably gotten into a fight that he very well would have lost. However, if there was anyone in this world he trusted, it was the old man. Of course the teen would only be assuming that Chai told him his secret as well, but it was a fair assumption, he just had this air of warmth and comfort about him, who wouldn’t trust him? Believing that to be true, this gave no reason for Edo to doubt the goat. All that was left was, processing that information. The teen was no stranger to inter planetary travel, having made several trips from Vegeta to Earth, but to travel through dimensions, that opens up an entire new perspective complete with a whole slew of questions. If this Chai is from another dimension, and there was an evil Chai from this dimension, what was his Edoma like? Did he have an Edoma? What about Ayumu, while he’s fresh in the mind. What was his Ayumu like, what if he was evil like this universe’s Chai. This didn’t even scratch the surface of the queries flooding the teens brain.

However, deciding to save that for another time, Edo realized he had yet to say anything actually assuring. Taking a deep breath to recompose himself the saiyan spoke. “I swear not to tell a single soul. Your secret is safe with me. I suppose I owe you an apology.” The teen went to extend is hand, only hesitating for a moment. This would be his test of trust, which recently resulted in him being caged up for months, leaving him with his currently injured leg, his uncharacteristic reserved nature, and his friends believing him to be dead.

He couldn't bring himself to physically do it, unintentionally leaving his hand half way to it's destination.  Realizing this, though probably not too late for his intentions to be noted, Edo rested his arm on his raised knee. “I’m sorry I held you up at blast point.” The saiyan assured, hoping to use a bit of humor to not only lighten the mood, but to put both minds at ease.  
“Another universe, how even… that is…” the half breed once again found himself trying to put his multi-dimensional questions to words, mostly to himself at this point, though still loud enough to be heard.

Edoma made himself comfortable in the sand, going as far as to remove his, now sand filled, cast. Stretching out his limbs, only making a slight inhale of pain this time, the teen settled in for what he hoped would be quite the tale. Quite the tale it turned out to be as well, the young hybrid looked on in a mix of shock, excitement, and then sadness, all very poorly hidden by the saiyan. Still he didn’t say a word, only listened in awe, like a child being told a fantastical bed time story by his mother. The no finish it all off, Guardia proposed that the teen share his story.

“Well, my story isn’t nearly as interesting as yours.” He began, his gaze shifting up to the sky. “First I guess it’s fair I tell you a little bit about myself. I was born here, in uh, this dimension and planet, but was almost immediately brought to Vegeta as a baby. There I pretty much grew up like any other saiyan would, even managed to make myself an elite as well.” He boasted a little too prideful. “But it turns out earth isn’t he only place where people discriminate against your race. Being half human is apparently a lot more shameful than being an elite warrior is prideful. They said my human genes would stop me from ever getting any stronger as I grew up. So,” Edo breathed, bringing his gaze back down to Chai, “I decided to come to earth, the heroes of legend lived here, and my human mother, I think, lives here, so I wanted to see if I could get stronger here.”

This is when the young hybrid began to get slightly agitated. “Once I got here, I went to my mom’s home town, and found nothing, except for one stupid human who claims to know where she is, but he said he’d only tell me if I could beat him.” Not wanting to relive an entire four years, Edo decided to shorten it a bit. “So I lost, left, came back, rinse and repeat as they say, for four years up to last year. That’s when I actually tried to kill the old fu- err man. Naturally, he didn’t want to kill me, but he didn’t want to die, so…” Edo raised his hand to the said, producing a small but powerful blast. “Right in my eyes, I was completely blind. On the plus side, that helped me learn to sense energy. Unfortunately, I lost again, and am only able to see now because of some weird bean he gave me.”

The young warrior took a moment to rub his eyes, feeling a slight stinging as he recalled the almost lethal brawl. “So after that, I thought it best I stay on the planet for real this time, in fact I’d say it’s been almost an exact year now. I met a few people, one of which, I think you met too, an old man by the name of Ayumu.” This was when the half breed’s face dipped towards the ground, his tone now much less jovial. “I owe him so much now…”

This was the part of the story the teen had been dreading, however, he knew he would be doing the two a disservice by not telling at least the basic premise of what he went through up north. “It was about ten months ago, I was near the highlands, when I came across a group of saiyan hating humans, an entire town of them really. At first I thought they would be friendly, they seemed so nice. They gave me food, water, even medicine.” Edoma took a moment to gather himself, taking a deep breath. “Turned out, the medicine they gave me was just meant to get me addicted, so I could join their little ‘research group’ which really, was a place where they would test their drugs on saiyans, even half saiyans like myself. They pretty much had us completely enslaved to our addiction, brainwashing us into following every order they gave us, all by saying our ‘subject name’.” As Edo spoke, his tail once again began drawing letters and numbers, though now probably with much more context.

“I got close to some of the other victims, a little too close, and pretty much ended up being forced to kill one of them.” He breathed shakily. “Then, they were attacked. I don’t know by whom, and I certainly don’t care, it gave me a way out and I took it. The only problem was, I had almost no energy in me. I had to jump from the top of their facility, which is how I broke my leg.” Finally, the teen recomposed himself, bring his gaze back to Chai and Guardia. “Sorry, I probably have no room to cry compared to what you went through,” he said in the purest form of apology. His shakiness now gone, his breath normal, Edoma drew his story to the conclusion.

“So, I escaped, and went for about two or three weeks without any medical care, probably why my leg is in such rough shape. I even found my own grave, which when suffering from withdrawal and slight hallucinations, lead me to think I was actually dead. Then he found me, again getting me out of trouble. Ayumu and Hana came, brought me to their house where I took some time to rest.” This prompted a small weak smile from the teen. “Thanks to them, I’m aiming to come back from that even stronger than before. It’s just, to think there were humans so vehemently against saiyans, I mean I’m not a fan of them as a whole, but I don’t hate them, I don’t think I ever hated anyone like they did me.” Edo shook his head clear, his smile growing slightly. “So now, I’m just heading somewhere warm to relax for a bit before heading back up to see the old man, he said he would help train me back to full strength.”

Despite wanting desperately to change the subject, the hybrid opened himself up to any questions the goat may have had for him. However, Edoma realized the Zoan before him left out a detail he was curious about. “By the way, I meant to ask, what’s the story with him?” he queried, raising a finger towards the telepathic sword by Chai’s side.