Post by Emperor Ninjin Hattori on Sept 27, 2014 10:12:21 GMT -5
[Two years ago]
“When do you think they’ll be done in there?” Kabocha asked with a flick of his head as he leaned against the wall. A pocket-knife was out and he was cleaning the dirt from under his nails with it. The trio were outside one of the many plain rooms that lined the courtyard of the palace set aside for “royal duties”. “Royal duties” included anything anyone in the room family needed a room for at any given moment. Currently it was being used so that Tsyuo Hattori, King of all Saiyans, could yell at his son, the crown-prince Ninjin Hattori. The yelling could be heard, like it so often could, echoing throughout the halls. The king and queen loved their first born dearly, and truthfully he could do no wrong in their eyes, except when it came to one thing. Money. Tsyuo always yelled about money.
The boy had no sense for it. As a prince he was better off than practically everyone else in the universe, there was little he couldn’t have, and yet still he managed to rack up huge amounts of debt whenever his father allowed him to go to places like Omega or Earth. Debts with people who, despite his stature, could make problems for the prince.
Tsyuo’s words of admonishment could be heard carrying out above any other conversation in the hallways nearest to the room. They were of Ninjin’s lack of responsibility and stupidity when it came to his recklessness. They were of Ninjin’s fool headedness. They were of Ninjin’s ego. Ninjin’s trio of lackeys stood by, waiting for their prince to join them afterward the screaming. The trio of lackeys all mouthed on of Tsyuo’s usual outbursts all at the same time. It had grown predictable.
Shiitake shrugged as he looked from his friend to the door and went back to chewing on his nail. Kabocha looked to Endou for an answer, but the female could also only shrug. Who knew what Ninjin had done this time in terms of money? Whatever it was, his father probably had good reason for scolding the crown-prince for it. And, despite the yelling, there was a good chance that the prince was going to do it again. With his crew involved this time. Endou smiled at the thought.
Inside the room was much tenser than the outside. Eighteen year-old Ninjin leaned against a table, his father red-faced before him, almost red enough to match his teen son’s armor. The prince’s arms were crossed and he was looking down and away, doing his best not to meet his father’s eyes. There would be nothing but anger and disappointment there. Tsyuo had been yelling at him for the better part of an hour now, and apparently there was a lot his father needed to get off of his chest.
Ninjin’s latest misadventure had resulted in the prince owing a fee of two million zeni to a corporation called Roxxon. Roxxon Corp was owned by a ruthless businessman, and if rumors were true, notorious crime boss, Obadiah Roxxon. Roxxon had risen quickly up the ladder of a business called Global oil, but when he had finally risen to the seat of chairman of the board, he already owned the controlling share, and so after a takeover rebranded the company Roxxon Corp. Not only did they up their oil game, they branched out into seemingly every other industry.
Ninjin had racked up a debt in one of Roxxon’s hotels, as well as the resort that went along with it, and Tsyuo had finally had enough. And so the prince leaned against a waist-high table and listened to his father berate him, like he would. Ninjin knew this routine all too well. His father would yell and huff and puff, Ninjin would so readily apologize and grovel, inflating his father’s ego as he did so; his father would remember how proud his son made him, and then everything would come full circle. So it surprised the prince, when his father suddenly stopped yelling. Yelling was good. Yelling was normal. Yelling meant the cycle kept rotating. Silence was bad. Silence meant new things. Unknown things. Scary things.
“Father I’m sorr—” The prince began. If his father had been thrown from the cycle, the best way to get what he wanted was for him to be put back on the cycle. Yet, his father help up his hand as Ninjin began to apologize. It was going to have been a good one too. The prince could feel the fake tears he had prepared welling up behind his eyes. Oh it would have been good. But his father was not having the cycle anymore.
“You’ll pay it back.” He said finally. Ninjin’s eyes leapt up to meet his father’s, to search for a sign that he was perhaps joking. There was nothing there but set determination. There would be no changing his mind. How in the world was Ninjin supposed to earn two million zeni? It wasn’t as if he had a job. He was the prince of Saiyans for kais-sake! Other people worked. Lesser people. People that weren’t princes.
“Now father I don’t think you’re thinking clearly.” Ninjin began, half reasoning and half begging. There was no way he could come up with that sort of money, unless of course his father gave it to him. Otherwise… he was shit out of luck. Ninjin began nervously chewing his nail after he said it, but his father looked him up and down and scoffed.
“Look what I’ve allow you to become. So entitled. So weak. Maybe this will help you on your journey to becoming a true Saiyan, and not the sniveling brat I see before me.” Ninjin’s jaw dropped as his father said the words. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His father never. Never spoke to him that way. Ninjin’s jaw opened and closed slightly, his mind racing for something to say. His father scoffed once again.
“It’s final. You’ll go and work for Obadiah Roxxon, until you’ve paid off your debt. Your shuttle leaves in an hour. You’re dismissed.” Ninjin’s surprise could only deepen it seemed, as he stared as his father in disbelief. He was leaving in an hour to go where exactly? And do what? Work for a name he had only heard as either being a ruthless businessman or killer?
“Now father if I could just ex—” The prince began, but his father roared and he was left with little choice but to scurry from the room or face his wrath.
Meanwhile, leaning against a door on the other side of the room, Kabocha had finished picking at his nails and was growing impatient. The door opened and neither of the two he expected to leave the room came out, instead it was a well-dressed woman in a tailored suit. She had bouncy blonde hair and a perfect white-toothed smile, which showed off the dimples on either side of her cheeks. Kabocha was floored by how attractive she was. Endou was floored by the fact that she just came out of that room, and she was neither the king, nor the prince. The woman turned and sashayed away without saying a word, and the two Saiyan male’s eyes watched as she did so. Endou rolled her eyes in disgust.
“Who was that?” Endou asked, staring after the woman in an entirely different way than her male counterparts. They both shrugged and mopped the drool from their faces. Ninjin rounded the corner and barked at them to get their attention. The three snapped up and quickly saluted the prince. He winked at Endou, who blushed. Then she remembered to ask him about the woman.
“Who was that in there with you and your father?” Endou asked, leaning against the wall as the prince himself relaxed against a railing. He looked very confused for a moment, and his face scrunched up in thought. Then he shrugged.
“It was just my father and I in the room. You should have been able to hear that. He says I’m to leave for Earth in an hour and work for some ‘Roxxon’ fellow. I have to pay back a two million zeni debt, and honestly guys I don’t even remember racking this one up…” They were stunned by the news. So stunned in fact, that the memory of a blonde bombshell slipped from their minds. Their prince was going to Earth. They all quickly resolved to go with him.
“Well of course you’re coming with me you idiots. Do you think you had a choice in the matter? It’ll be you doing most of the work!” The three groaned collectively as they made their way to the prince’s chambers to pack.
~~~
[Earth- two years ago]
A pair of tanned and toned legs carried Miss Davis forwards and up to the desk of her boss, Obadiah Roxxon. Roxxon swiveled in his chair to look at the woman, a permanent-yet-somehow-perfect smile on his face. Long ago he had found what he considered “The ideal beauty”. Obadiah Roxxon was in the buissness of getting what he wanted, and so he had acquired the face, and then had it affixed over his own. Though most would call him a monster, it was hard to tell that the face ever belonged to someone else, so prolific had the man’s spending been on his surgery. He had tried to threaten the plastic surgeons… but they’re plastic surgeons… and so he spared no expense. When Obadiah Roxxon wanted something, he got it. No matter what it was.
Miss Davis had been one of his latest acquisitions. She was a slave that he had ‘bought’ from a trader. It had been heralded that she had the ability to shape-shift into any known creature. It was something that Roxxon couldn’t pass up, though he would never pay for something unless he absolutely had to. Anything else he would kill or threaten to get his way, and then if worse came to worse he would break out his checkbook. But always break knees first. Davis had more than proved herself loyal. And the pair had killed her former owner together, and then set off making Roxxon Corp one of the biggest companies on Earth. One of their main rivals was Rosen corp, another Capsule corp. Roxxon considered them to be mere blips on the radar.
“Is it done?” He asked, turning his face towards her. His smile was so friendly and handsome and inviting, but looking into his eyes told a different story. They were the eyes of a mad-man, a killer. Someone who had and would gladly kill to get their way. His eyes told her what her answer had better be. Thankfully, this time she needn’t worry. She nodded and Roxxon clapped his hands together, his smile seeming all the brighter.
“Excellent. My own Saiyan Prince. I’ve always wanted one.”
~~~
Ninjin stepped off of the space ship and took in a deep breath of Earth air. And instantly wanted to vomit. It was disgusting on the planet and smelled of human and garbage. They had so polluted their own world, did they really need to go out and settle more planets and ruin them too? Still the prince had to begrudgingly deal with it. The humans had given them New Vegeta after all... Still… he didn’t have to like it.
And he most certainly didn’t like what he was doing here. He had complained about it the whole trip here, so much so that as soon as the soldiers finished unloading their stuff the pilot shot back up into space. There were ten of them in all. Ninjin, Kabocha, Shiitake, Endou, and six others that Ninjin had hand selected.
“Remind me to have him killed.” Ninjin said watching the ship rocket away from the landing pad, though he was mostly joking. Mostly. He turned and a raven-haired bombshell was standing nearby, a sign that said his name on it. There was a little heart over the j. How cute. Ninjin’s jaw dropped and Endou scoffed and rolled her eyes. Men. Shiitake and Kabocha were having similar reactions to the stunning woman. Ninjin regained his composure and walked up.
“I’m Ninjin Hattori.” Not his best pick-up line, but it had everything she needed to know in it. He was the one that she was looking for. Hopefully he was also the one she was looking for. He knew she was the one he was looking for. He mentally high-fived himself for that. The woman smirked and set his heart aflutter.
“Greetings Ninjin. My name is Miss Davis. Obadiah Roxxon has sent me to pick you up and take care of any needs you may have.” The way she said the last few words made the teenage prince’s heart nearly stop. Endo thought she was going to puke. She cleared her throat and closed the prince’s jaw for him, adding a few smacks to the side of his face after.
“Take me to your leader?” The prince said after a moment with a shrug. Davis giggled, Endou loudly groaned.
After a brief car-ride they found themselves in front of a large skyscraper, with the word “Roxxon” in big red letters on the front. The group took the elevator up to the penthouse floor. The doors slid open with a hiss, and a long strip of red carpet led to a black desk. The room was painted black, and a large glass aquarium tank lined the back wall. The prince had no idea what could possibly in it, or which contents scared him more, the tank or the chair. The chair behind the desk was high-backed and facing away from them. Ninjin couldn’t help but be reminded of one of those campy Earth movies they used to sneak at academy.
The chair spun, and Ninjin took in a sharp intake of breath. What was it exactly he was looking at? The face he was looking at seemed too perfect to be real, and then Ninjin realized why. It didn’t move. The features remained the same, though the eyes followed him. They seemed to be as happy as the rest of his face was at the current moment.
“Ninjin Hattori! Welcome welcome!” He said as his lips didn’t move. It unnerved the prince, but something told him to just suck it up and go with it. This was likely not going to be pleasant, so the least he could do was have a decent attitude about it. The man in front of him gave off an air of danger that the crimson Saiyan couldn’t shake. Maybe it was the way his face didn’t ever freaking move. The crown-prince nodded and gave a smile.
“And you brought friends! Well the more the merrier right!? Welcome friends of Ninjin Hattori. I am Obadiah Roxxon, and this is Roxxon corp. Water, tea, we have some great cucumber water, it’ll just knock your socks off.” He depressed a button on his desk “Hellen can we get some cucumber water in here for the fellas.” Then he smiled up at them, because of course he did. Hellen brought in the cucumber water and passed it around.
“Now that the pleasantries are over, we should discuss why you’re here.” Obadiah took a seat and motioned for them to do the same. Shrugging Ninjin made to sit where he was, and a cushioned chair rose to meet him. The others followed suit. Obadiah waited until they were all seated. Miss Davis had apparently left them at some point, and she was replaced by a hulking man in a suit. No doubt one of Obadiah’s bodyguards. Ninjin was finding his ki signature hard to place, it seemed to keep shifting between power levels as if in a constant flux.
“During your last visit to Earth you racked up a debt of some three-point-seven million zeni. Now I’ve told your father I was willing to forgive one point seven of that, but that still leaves us with a whopping two million zeni in debt to me young man. Now i—” Ninjin cut him off.
“When and how did I do this exactly?” The man’s eyes looked shocked, as if he was unused to being interrupted. The smile, however, remained. He appeared as if he was about to say something, but then reconsidered.
“Your majesty, as I was saying,” His words were dripping with meaning. He wouldn’t forget who he was in the room with, if Ninjin did the same. “This occurred sometime over the last six months at a resort called Phenoix La Noire.”
Shit. He did remember that, vaguely. It was as if it was on the edge of his remembering, as if it wasn’t a full memory. It was odd. But he had to admit, he had done it. He nodded and bit the inside of his cheek. Okay. Okay he had done it. He hadn’t really been expecting that one.
“No need to look so sullen your majesty, just do what I would do, smile.” The way he said it… his mannerisms…. They all so weirded-out the prince. To say he was uncomfortable around the man was to say the least. He fidgeted in his chair. His Lackeys had downright peed themselves, save the girl, who seemed defiant although silent. Obadiah did not miss this from the prince, neither had the shifted Miss Davis. “Well that’s what we’re here to discuss!” He clapped his hands together theatrically.
Ninjin shifted nervously once more. The lackeys too, were picking up on the uncomfortable feelings the man in front of them was giving off. They wanted desperately to get out of there. So too did Ninjin. Obadiah could practically taste the fear given off by the young Saiyans. Miss Davis, in the guise of the large security guard, had noticed it too. Though unlike Roxxon, her powers fed on fear. It was delicious.
“So here’s what I want from you. I won’t beat around the bush and I won’t play any more games. I need you.” The words terrified the prince. What in the world could this crime boss/ business magnate want from him? Couldn’t he simply pay for anything in the world?
“In the depths of a vault located here on Earth lies a crystal. I want it. But the problem is I can’t get in.” Okay there was clearly a catch here. Where was this vault, and more importantly who owned it? And perhaps the most important of all, why couldn’t Obadiah get in? If there was something preventing him from getting in, why in the world would it allow the prince? The man seemed to read the prince’s mind.
“It’s owned by a rival company. He won’t sell it. If anyone of my usual guys even get close to the vault, they’ll be killed. But you, you’re powerful. That and you’re a third party. They won’t be expecting anyone other than my usual crew, and least of all expecting the Saiyan crown prince.” The prince supposed that made sense. Still he wasn’t in any hurry to find out if that plan would work.
“You do this for me, and our debt is whipped clean. We’re done you and I.” Ninjin sighed. He hated doing something illegal, as it just wasn’t like him. He did foolish stuff, that was for sure, but he didn’t often do illegal things. Still his father had told him to do this. Ninjin nodded.
“Alright fine. Let’s go.” Ninjin rose from the table. Obadiah smiled. Because of course he did.
~~~
The vault stood in front of them, and the ten stood in knee deep snow looking up at it. Obadiah had provided them with winter gear once he told them where the thing was located. Wind and flakes of snow whipped up around them and created nearly white-out conditions. The vault was still hard to miss however, as it stood at least two hundred feet high and dark onyx. The prince looked from his group to the thing and began trudging through the snow towards the base of the massive structure. There was a feeling in the air, one of trepidation and danger. How could there not be, the danger had been outline for them. The men that were guarding the thing wouldn’t hesitate to try and kill them. Ninjin wouldn’t be returning the favor. This was all nonlethal for him.
The two base doors of the thing were thirty feet tall and massive, which led Ninjin to wonder what in the world they were for? Doors were built out of function of the size of things using them. So what needed to get through that door? The others voiced their awe as well. Ninjin pushed against the doors and was surprised to find them open. He turned and shrugged and entered.
It was vast and empty, though surprisingly warm. The nothingness rose above them as far as the ceiling went, and tucked in the back, almost as an afterthought, was a staircase leading downwards. Ninjin rose in the air and shot all the way up, but there was nothing. Down it was. As they descended the air began to grow surprisingly warm, and soon the steel around them gave way to nothingness, the spiral staircase continuing downwards though the steel around them had changed to open air. And… sky?
“Ninjin….” Endou couldn’t get the rest of her sentence out it seemed, too awed was she by what they found.
“Do you like it? I made it for you.” A disembodied voice said, and it sounded to be coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. Obadiah’s disembodied head appeared in front of them, and the group gathered were collectively shocked.
“What do you mean—” Ninjin called out, but the massive head cut him off.
“OH no no no. This is my world Ninjin, though I made it for you. You talk when I let you.” Who in the world did this giant head think he was?! There was no way he was going to allow him to speak to him like that.
“You’re not going to like what’s gonna happen next Pumpkin’. I’ll explain the rules on the ground.” The ground? What did he mean by—then the staircase disappeared. The ten found themselves free falling through the air. Ninjin whipped around and tried to activate his bukujutsu, but nothing happened. Why wasn’t he flying? Something was negating his powers of flight. A shock of terror went through him. Was this how he was going to die? Falling some who-knows-how-long distance. This was not the warriors death he had always envisioned for himself.
Obadiah appeared once more, though this time it appeared to be all of him. Ninjin launched a blast of ki at him, but it sailed harmlessly through him.
“Hologram my dear sweet pet. Okay so I lied, I’m going to explain the rules now. So you’re in what’s called my Murdertopia! Patten pending. The name of the game is survival. Once you hit the ground you’re going to have one day of peace. Then all hell breaks loose. You kill each other, or you die. There will be the usual environmental hazards and things of that nature, but remember only one of you can live. My moneys on my prized pet.” The maniac disappeared and reappeared closer to Ninjin.
“To show you that I’m absolutely serious, I’ve conjured backpacks on each of your backs. Nine of which have parachutes in them. One of them will fail. Once you hit the ground, you will no doubt die from the impact. The rest of you good luck.” The villain disappeared once again, though this time the prince knew that he wouldn’t be reappearing. A few moments later Ninjin felt a weight suddenly appear on his back. It was a back-pack, much as Roxxon had said there would be. He tested his luck and pulled the cord. A chute flung out and quickly halted his descent. So he was not the one. So which of his hand-picked soldiers had he chosen to fall to their deaths? Was it Endou, with whom he had a deep connection? Or Kabocha or Shiitake, two of his friends and followers since the academy? Or one of the other six, each a soldier proven a thousand times over in the field with the crown-prince.
He searched around for the others, but the sky had quickly turned dark and it was hard to see much of anything. Nearby he could pick up the sound of parachutes opening. The prince couldn’t resist counting them out as they did so, until all nine were deployed. After what felt like an eternity they heard a sickening crack, as a body makes when it collides with solider rock at such speeds. Who had it been? Ninjin bit back the guilt. They would be avenged. Roxxon would not get away with this.
After another eternity his feet eventually touched the ground, and he was more relieved than he would like to admit. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness. The other surviving eight soon landed around them, Kabocha, Shiitake, and Endou in their number. The one who had died had been a grizzled war veteran, and although a great solider, he hadn’t been a personal friend of the prince. He was ashamedly relieved. A large clock appeared seemingly in midair, and on it read twenty-four hours. The day of peace that Obadiah had mentioned. The hologram appeared once more.
“Ouch, tough break. The weak link always breaks. So the rest of you have twenty-four hours of peace. That means all of your powers are dampened to the point of non-use. Then after those twenty-four hours are up, boom goes the dynamite and your powers are restored to their fullest. And obviously Ninny here would just absolutely murder you all in terms of power, I’ve injected each of you, except for my prize prince, with a shot. This shot will randomize your power and abilities. Let the games begin. Good luck people.”
Ninjin stared at the group horrified. They… what?! How had they allowed this to happen. He was not going to allow any more of them to die. That one Saiyan had fallen to this lunatic was too much. This would not, could not, go unpunished. When the twenty four hours were up, when he got his power back, Obadiah Roxxon was a dead man.
As if reading his mind the hologram appeared once more.
“And don’t even think of trying to escape or anything like that. The ceiling is rigged to blow if you do. I’m not sure if you remember where you are, but that would bring hundreds of millions of gallons of ice-cold water down on your little Saiyan heads.” He smiled, because of course he did, and then he left.
So that was it then. They were trapped. Trapped in this world of death. Only one of them would be allowed to leave, and when twenty-four hours was up some of them would begin to have violent reactions to the shots that Obadiah had given them. Would they even have a choice whether or not to participate in his mad game? Did any of them have a choice now? Ninjin turned to face the group. There was a mixture of reactions on their faces, from scared to pissed, from sad to down-right dumbstruck. Endou was the only one who offered him a smile, though it was half-hearted and obviously forced.
“Well it looks bad right now guys.”
“No shit.” One of the Saiyans Ninjin had selected, Barrick, spat the words at the prince. There were a few murmurs of approval. Ninjin was momentarily taken aback, but given the situation he afforded the man some leeway.
“I know it looks bad right now guys” The prince began again, but once again Barrick cut him off.
“You just said that ass-hat. It’s your damn fault we’re even in this mess. I followed you here because of who your daddy is, but I have no love for you, especially not after this. If I have to kill you to get out of here, you can be damn sure I will.” He turned and began walking away. Three of the others, Mik, Leo and Fenris, followed after him. That left Ninjin with Kabocha, Shiitake, Endou and a young Saiyan pilot named Maru.
“Alright guys, now this looks even worse. But I will do everything I can to get you guys out of here alive. You can believe that.” They all nodded and tried to take on brave faces. How could they though? In twenty-four hours a mysterious shot was going to run rampant on their systems and alter their very genetic structure. It was guaranteed not to be pleasant at the very least. What were they to do. Ninjin had also hand selected four very-highly-trained killers that were now out there in this Murdertopia with genetic cocktails of their own brewing inside them. And they had vowed that they would kill anyone else to get out alive. Things were looking pretty bleak.
The group found a building and fortified it for the night. If they were going to survivie they were going to do it together. The ever present threat of the total collapse of the ceiling made it difficult to sleep, as did the knowledge that they may begin changing at any moment. Ninjin was the only one free of that worry, though… he was the reason they were all here in the first place.
The fire popped and cracked warmly in front of the group as they lay in their shelter. Maru, Shiitake, and Kabocha had long since fallen asleep. The emotional trauma of the day had worn them all out, and Ninjin and Endou were the only ones left awake, either of them laying on either side of the fire. Ninjin’s guilt weighed heavy on his conscious as he stared into the crackling blaze in front of him. How could he have been so dumb as to get led into this trap? Moreover why had his father agreed to send him here… though there was no way he could have known either.
“Ninjin… When we were waiting for you outside of the room where your father was yelling at you, we saw a woman leave the room, and then we saw you come out of the room… but we never saw your father…” The prince was startled.
“What do you mean you saw a woman leave the room? There was no one in there but my father and I.”
“I tried to tell you at the time but we all got caught up in the turmoil of your father sending you here that we forgot about it. But that woman… I think it was Miss Daisy. I don’t know how to prove it, but she had the same effect on you as she did on Kabocha and Shiitake when she was the blonde woman… somehow. What I’m trying to say is that—”
“I’m impressed Endou.” Obadiah’s voice said, as the head materialized in between them. “Miss Davis is indeed a shape-shifter, and the best in the business at that. I got her to impersonate your father and send you here to work for me. The cucumber water you drank had a mild hypnotic drug in it that made you susceptible to suggestions, which is why you remembered the hotel like you thought you did. And then getting you here was all too easy. How quick you are to please daddy.” Ninjin spat at the head, who laughed it off.
“The clock is ticking my pet. Better get some sleep.”
~~~
The morning came with the rumblings of thunder. Ninjin spat and cursed Obadiah. How long had it been? Two weeks? More? Less? It was hard to tell in this hell hole. The first day had seen little activity, no one had changed much and they hadn’t seen any of the other group since they had splintered. After noon had come they ventured out of their fortified building to test if their powers had come back. Indeed they had, except for Maru’s, whose were conspicuously absent.
Together they trekked away from their tiny urban setting and out into the surrounding suburban area. The day ended uneventfully. More uneventful days would follow, and the group had the annoying habit of not killing each other mercilessly. Obadiah appeared to them every so offer to pester them and try and convince them that they should turn on each other, but to no avail.
That morning’s storm had woken Ninjin. Obadiah was no doubt getting desperate. This wasn’t amusing. This wasn’t what he wanted to watch. He wanted to see his “prize prince” killing. But Ninjin wouldn’t do it. Not unless it was Obadiah he was killing. That he would do gladly. The air smelt of rain and was charged the way the air in a storm gets. There was something else there too. A rumbling. Then the prince noticed the entire earth was rumbling.
“What’s that?” He asked those gathered around him. One by one they began to rouse at they too felt it. Endou looked around panicked and sprang into the air. The others quickly followed, Shiitake and Kabocha grabbing Maru under the arms and into the air, and where they had just been laying fell away, leaving only a deep dark hole.
“What in the world?” He looked down into the hole, and a light shot out of it. Slowly something rose from the hole that had been created. It looked like a creature made from the earth, but large leathery wings unfurled from its back and were beating to keep it aloft. Its body seemed to be covered in rocks, but its head was similar to a bats, but with the addition of two large horns. It shrieked at them and quickly advanced towards them.
“What the fuck!?” Endou screamed as the thing began to beat its wings and climb towards them. They tried to rise in the air, but it seemed to just keep gaining.
“Endou you’re with me, we gotta distract this thing. Maru doesn’t have any powers and Kabocha and Shiitake gotta carry him, meaning their dead if this thing catches them. Let’s do this.” Ninjin cut his bukujutsu and let himself fall towards the oncoming earth-bat thing. He began to free fall towards the thing, and only then did he realize how massive it was. It was at least fourty feet long from head to tail. The power-level it was giving off was massive. Then the prince noticed something he hadn’t been expecting, and it horrified him.
Bits of Saiyan armor clung to the beast’s flesh, though not because it had attacked anything. This was one of his former men. Ninjin caught the beast’s eye and there was no denying, there was no trace of any sign of sentient intelligence left, there was only a bestial rage there. A mercy killing then. Ninjin activated his true power and began to charge a blast of ki in one fist as he pointed the other towards the beast, guiding his freefall with it. Endou zipped around quickly throwing smaller and ineffective ki blasts at the creature. It did serve to confuse and distract the unintelligent beast. Ninjin dropped down into the beast’s gullet. The others gasped, but Endou just smiled.
Moments later the prince burst forth from the bottom of the creature, dripping with ichor and giblets. He sighed and whipped it off of himself. The group landed on a stable location. That left eight of them altogether. And as Obadiah had said… only one of them was getting out. The group looked at each other. They weren’t going to let that happen.
~~~
Despite the darkness of the night, Ninjin could see every few moments when the world would be illuminated by flashes of lightning. Rain pelted his dirty crimson armor and left strikes through the grime that had caked on it. The same could be said about his face. Was this his life now? Was his life really going to be serving for the amusement of this mad man? It had been quite some time, if the stubble on his face meant anything. At some point the remaining three Saiyans had attacked the group. Fenris had turned into a feral Saiyan, his nails long, his hair long, his brow more pronounced. Leo’s body had doubled in size, and a long mane had grown on his head and down his back. Mik was the one who had turned into the bat creature.
Barrik was the worst of all. He hadn’t changed, but he radiated with power. Endou and Maru still hadn’t shown signs of changing, but they figured it was only a matter of time. The trio attacked them in the middle of the night and during a storm, a tactical advantage the veterans were sure to take advantage of. In the confusion and violence the group had been separated. That was a week ago, and Ninjin had found himself in a jungle-like area. Alone. And once again in rain and storm, though that seemed to be often in this Murdertopia.
He wondered if Endou and the rest were still alive. It was hard to imagine that this had all been his fault. He had been tricked though, tricked by a shape-shifter posing as his father. His guard had been so down in the palace, he had thought it was his father… Still that was no excuse. His men, and perhaps his friends, were dead because of him. It was a heavy thing to weigh on his conscious. No! Wait! This was all Obadiah’s fault! Ninjin was going to kill him for this.
The jungle had been unusually quiet for the normally fast paced and loud jungle. Then Ninjin discovered why. A large building appeared in a clearing in the jungle before him. It looked like a modern-day Earth mansion. From inside the building, as he grew closer, he could hear yelling.
“The latest storm kicked out our cameras and hologram feed!” He recognized the sultry voice as belonging to Miss Davis, Obadiah’s assistant. Then as if on cue, the voice of the hated-crime magnate called out through the storm as well.
“Get it fixed Davis! We can’t lose these people for a second or else—” He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as the wall behind him exploded with tremendous force. The Prince appeared in the hole that was left in the wall. Inside Davis and Obadiah had been tinkering with electrical equipment. They both looked in surprise at the prince, and then Davis’ expression turned to one of fear. Obadiah smiled, because of course he did.
“I’m pissed.” Ninjin stated simply, before activating his true power. His aura flared around him. His fist quickly punctured the chest of Obadiah, who looked down at it and shrugged before falling over, purple ichor spilling out of the hole. Ninjin looked from him to Davis. Davis vanished where she was standing, leaving the pissed off prince standing in the tech-room by himself. He couldn’t make heads or tails of the panel of controls. One video feed remained though, and it made Ninjin glad to see that the rest of the group had managed to stay together and were alive. Unfortunately they were under attack. By the other group.
Ninjin slammed his fist down on the panel and suddenly he was standing in front of them. He looked around and down at himself. He was a hologram. The group looked around and stopped fighting to look at the green version of the crown-prince.
“You can all stop fighting! Obadiah is dead and Davis has fled.” They looked at the prince, and his friends visibly relaxed. The other three however did not. Barrick snarled.
“You think we can just stop? We tried to kill you your highness, that doesn’t just go away. Your daddy won’t just let that go. Sorry kid, but the only way we get out of here is if you don’t.”
The prince couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Barrick really wasn’t going to let them out of here alive. It seemed like things kept going from bad to worse. Ninjin snarled and let go of the button he had pressed on the panel. He had to get to the group and fast. There was space-ship parked in the garage of the mansion, big enough to comfortably fit the five of them, if he could get to his people. He climbed in the cockpit and looked desperately at the controls. It couldn’t be that hard right? But he couldn’t risk damaging their only way out.
So flying himself was his only option. Hastily he left the cockpit of the ship and the garage and flew into the air. It didn’t take much to find Barrick, his power-level was greater than even the prince’s own, but not by a great margin. Ninjin gritted his teeth and flew towards the combat in a red-blur. When he arrived, Maru was unconscious, Kabocha was fighting Fenris, Endou was fighting Barrick, and Shiitake was fighting Leo. His side was obviously on the ropes. His first order of business was to make it over to Maru and make sure he was still alive. He was, though there was a nasty gash over his right eye. The prince quickly informed him of the position of the house and the spaceship and told him to get it and get back to them. They were leaving. The young Saiyan nodded and sped off.
Now it was time for business. He activated his true power and debated taking his weights off. But his arrogance won out. They would stay on and he would destroy them regardless, because he could. Because he was the Saiyan crown prince. He had been being controlled for a great while now, by his father, by the actions of the Universal Church of One, by Obadiah Roxxon in his mad quest to take the prince as a prize. That was over. That was all over.
A large blast of ki ripped apart Fenris, just after he had thrown Kabocha away like he was nothing. Gashes and welts covered the Saiyan’s body. Endou and Shiitake weren’t in much better shape. The other fighters looked up in surprise at the crown-prince.
“I tried to let it go. But now you’ve hurt my friends.” Another wave ripped apart Leo, leaving just Ninjin’s crew with Barrick standing there in front of them. His power was now dwarfed by the prince’s true power. The prince raised his hand.
“WAIT!” Barrick screamed and flinched. He fell to his knees and genuflected before the crown prince of all Saiyans. Ninjin raised an eyebrow. Then he felt a sharp pain jut into his side. Turning he was confused to see Maru standing there. Then Maru’s features melted away to be those of Miss Davis. Ninjin growled in shock and frustration before stumbling a few steps and falling. The knife was still in his side, and the pain was excruciating.
Barrick stood and kicked the Prince hard in the side, dislodging the knife. The others gasped, but the Saiyan quickly grabbed the knife and waved it at them frantically. They backed off, though they kept their eyes glued on the prince’s form. Davis sauntered over and quickly, almost unperceptively, jammed a knife of her own into Barrick. His eyes bulged and he looked confused for a moment before quickly falling to the ground, dead. She looked from the group to the two Saiyans on the ground, chuckled, and laughed. Then she disappeared. A moment later the entire world seemed to shake. The ceiling was collapsing. She had done it. They had done it. They meant to bring the millions of gallons of frigid water down onto them and kill them all. No witnesses.
From his prone position on the floor Ninjin gritted his teeth and forced himself to his feet. Blood slowly trickled from the wound, and it stung something fierce. He simply pointed in the direction of the house and then began to fall forward. Endou caught him and the group advanced. Half-way to their destination however, Maru appeared with the space ship. The group gave a cheer and soon they all found themselves back onboard. They still had to deal with the world coming down around them though.
Endou slipped Ninjin into the co-pilots seat and belted him in. This particular model of ship didn’t have a healing chamber, and so they were left with a good old fashioned first-aid kit. Ninjin grimaced as his friend stitched up his wound. Maru white-knuckled fought with the controls as he dodged flying chucks of ice and large quantities of water, and the occasional gargantuan sea creature. They began to near the top and could see the large cylinder the ten had originally came through. They were half that number now. They weren’t going to make it though. Anyone could see that. Ninjin grunted and threw himself backwards before anyone could stop him. The ships doors doing little to stop his weight with his heavy weights and the added bukujutsu. The wind kicked up all around him and the air was filled with the salty spray of frigid water as it too whipped around him. Once more he activated his true power, and using the slip-stream of the ship and his bukujutsu came out in front of it. Then he launched a ki blast at the cylinder. After he launched the blast, he noticed the explosives. He swore and threw himself down the side of the ship, tumbling as he did so. A hand reached out and grabbed him and pulled him through the back door.
“Holy fucking shit duck!” Ninjin yelled, and then the explosion came. Everything whited out.
~~~
Ninjin gasped for breath and looked around. Ship debris littered the area, as did the bodies of his friends. Panic seized his heart for a moment, until one by one they all started breathing once more, gasping for breath much as he had. They weren’t in water, he was definitely on solid ground, so where were they? He opened his eyes and sunshine met him.
Groggily he sat up and took in his surroundings. It was tropical, and they were on a beach, though that beach was littered with debris and the unconscious bodies of his crew. Maru, however, was awake and sitting up, leaning against a tree trunk. Ninjin gave-himself a once over to make sure nothing was badly damaged or ruptured and decided he was okay, despite being insanely sore. Gingerly he got to his feet and made his way over to the pilot who had saved their lives.
“Thank you Maru. You did a good thing for us back there.” The young Saiyan looked up and nodded. His face looked much older than it had when the prince had selected him for this mission, though he couldn’t blame him. They had all been through a whole hell of a lot.
“Are… Are we going to report this sir?” Maru asked hesitantly. Ninjin hadn’t even been considering the solider, or the prince aspect of this. But what was the need? After all Obadiah was dead, Davis was presumably buried under all of the water and ice, and the traitorous Saiyans were all most certainly dead. Ninjin shook his head.
“No Maru. This one stays between the five of us.” The young Saiyan nodded. It was tragic and it was brutal and it was traumatizing. Who would believe the tale anyway?
~~~
Aboard a tiny vessel orbiting the planet, Obadiah Roxxon stared at a video feed that showed Ninjin Hattori and the other surviving Saiyans. Well that just wouldn’t do now would it? They had offended him. Ninjin had even gone so far as to kill one of his body-doubles. And Miss Davis? Well who knows where she was. She might have been killed in the explosion he had triggered, but that was the price of doing business wasn’t it? She was expendable. He had plenty more pets. But there was one that had eluded him, and now he wanted it even more.
He would have the prince as his pet yet. Obadiah Roxxon got what he wanted.
Obadiah Roxxon smiled, because of course he did.
(Pl please. Heavy Weights in effect.)
“When do you think they’ll be done in there?” Kabocha asked with a flick of his head as he leaned against the wall. A pocket-knife was out and he was cleaning the dirt from under his nails with it. The trio were outside one of the many plain rooms that lined the courtyard of the palace set aside for “royal duties”. “Royal duties” included anything anyone in the room family needed a room for at any given moment. Currently it was being used so that Tsyuo Hattori, King of all Saiyans, could yell at his son, the crown-prince Ninjin Hattori. The yelling could be heard, like it so often could, echoing throughout the halls. The king and queen loved their first born dearly, and truthfully he could do no wrong in their eyes, except when it came to one thing. Money. Tsyuo always yelled about money.
The boy had no sense for it. As a prince he was better off than practically everyone else in the universe, there was little he couldn’t have, and yet still he managed to rack up huge amounts of debt whenever his father allowed him to go to places like Omega or Earth. Debts with people who, despite his stature, could make problems for the prince.
Tsyuo’s words of admonishment could be heard carrying out above any other conversation in the hallways nearest to the room. They were of Ninjin’s lack of responsibility and stupidity when it came to his recklessness. They were of Ninjin’s fool headedness. They were of Ninjin’s ego. Ninjin’s trio of lackeys stood by, waiting for their prince to join them afterward the screaming. The trio of lackeys all mouthed on of Tsyuo’s usual outbursts all at the same time. It had grown predictable.
Shiitake shrugged as he looked from his friend to the door and went back to chewing on his nail. Kabocha looked to Endou for an answer, but the female could also only shrug. Who knew what Ninjin had done this time in terms of money? Whatever it was, his father probably had good reason for scolding the crown-prince for it. And, despite the yelling, there was a good chance that the prince was going to do it again. With his crew involved this time. Endou smiled at the thought.
Inside the room was much tenser than the outside. Eighteen year-old Ninjin leaned against a table, his father red-faced before him, almost red enough to match his teen son’s armor. The prince’s arms were crossed and he was looking down and away, doing his best not to meet his father’s eyes. There would be nothing but anger and disappointment there. Tsyuo had been yelling at him for the better part of an hour now, and apparently there was a lot his father needed to get off of his chest.
Ninjin’s latest misadventure had resulted in the prince owing a fee of two million zeni to a corporation called Roxxon. Roxxon Corp was owned by a ruthless businessman, and if rumors were true, notorious crime boss, Obadiah Roxxon. Roxxon had risen quickly up the ladder of a business called Global oil, but when he had finally risen to the seat of chairman of the board, he already owned the controlling share, and so after a takeover rebranded the company Roxxon Corp. Not only did they up their oil game, they branched out into seemingly every other industry.
Ninjin had racked up a debt in one of Roxxon’s hotels, as well as the resort that went along with it, and Tsyuo had finally had enough. And so the prince leaned against a waist-high table and listened to his father berate him, like he would. Ninjin knew this routine all too well. His father would yell and huff and puff, Ninjin would so readily apologize and grovel, inflating his father’s ego as he did so; his father would remember how proud his son made him, and then everything would come full circle. So it surprised the prince, when his father suddenly stopped yelling. Yelling was good. Yelling was normal. Yelling meant the cycle kept rotating. Silence was bad. Silence meant new things. Unknown things. Scary things.
“Father I’m sorr—” The prince began. If his father had been thrown from the cycle, the best way to get what he wanted was for him to be put back on the cycle. Yet, his father help up his hand as Ninjin began to apologize. It was going to have been a good one too. The prince could feel the fake tears he had prepared welling up behind his eyes. Oh it would have been good. But his father was not having the cycle anymore.
“You’ll pay it back.” He said finally. Ninjin’s eyes leapt up to meet his father’s, to search for a sign that he was perhaps joking. There was nothing there but set determination. There would be no changing his mind. How in the world was Ninjin supposed to earn two million zeni? It wasn’t as if he had a job. He was the prince of Saiyans for kais-sake! Other people worked. Lesser people. People that weren’t princes.
“Now father I don’t think you’re thinking clearly.” Ninjin began, half reasoning and half begging. There was no way he could come up with that sort of money, unless of course his father gave it to him. Otherwise… he was shit out of luck. Ninjin began nervously chewing his nail after he said it, but his father looked him up and down and scoffed.
“Look what I’ve allow you to become. So entitled. So weak. Maybe this will help you on your journey to becoming a true Saiyan, and not the sniveling brat I see before me.” Ninjin’s jaw dropped as his father said the words. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His father never. Never spoke to him that way. Ninjin’s jaw opened and closed slightly, his mind racing for something to say. His father scoffed once again.
“It’s final. You’ll go and work for Obadiah Roxxon, until you’ve paid off your debt. Your shuttle leaves in an hour. You’re dismissed.” Ninjin’s surprise could only deepen it seemed, as he stared as his father in disbelief. He was leaving in an hour to go where exactly? And do what? Work for a name he had only heard as either being a ruthless businessman or killer?
“Now father if I could just ex—” The prince began, but his father roared and he was left with little choice but to scurry from the room or face his wrath.
Meanwhile, leaning against a door on the other side of the room, Kabocha had finished picking at his nails and was growing impatient. The door opened and neither of the two he expected to leave the room came out, instead it was a well-dressed woman in a tailored suit. She had bouncy blonde hair and a perfect white-toothed smile, which showed off the dimples on either side of her cheeks. Kabocha was floored by how attractive she was. Endou was floored by the fact that she just came out of that room, and she was neither the king, nor the prince. The woman turned and sashayed away without saying a word, and the two Saiyan male’s eyes watched as she did so. Endou rolled her eyes in disgust.
“Who was that?” Endou asked, staring after the woman in an entirely different way than her male counterparts. They both shrugged and mopped the drool from their faces. Ninjin rounded the corner and barked at them to get their attention. The three snapped up and quickly saluted the prince. He winked at Endou, who blushed. Then she remembered to ask him about the woman.
“Who was that in there with you and your father?” Endou asked, leaning against the wall as the prince himself relaxed against a railing. He looked very confused for a moment, and his face scrunched up in thought. Then he shrugged.
“It was just my father and I in the room. You should have been able to hear that. He says I’m to leave for Earth in an hour and work for some ‘Roxxon’ fellow. I have to pay back a two million zeni debt, and honestly guys I don’t even remember racking this one up…” They were stunned by the news. So stunned in fact, that the memory of a blonde bombshell slipped from their minds. Their prince was going to Earth. They all quickly resolved to go with him.
“Well of course you’re coming with me you idiots. Do you think you had a choice in the matter? It’ll be you doing most of the work!” The three groaned collectively as they made their way to the prince’s chambers to pack.
~~~
[Earth- two years ago]
A pair of tanned and toned legs carried Miss Davis forwards and up to the desk of her boss, Obadiah Roxxon. Roxxon swiveled in his chair to look at the woman, a permanent-yet-somehow-perfect smile on his face. Long ago he had found what he considered “The ideal beauty”. Obadiah Roxxon was in the buissness of getting what he wanted, and so he had acquired the face, and then had it affixed over his own. Though most would call him a monster, it was hard to tell that the face ever belonged to someone else, so prolific had the man’s spending been on his surgery. He had tried to threaten the plastic surgeons… but they’re plastic surgeons… and so he spared no expense. When Obadiah Roxxon wanted something, he got it. No matter what it was.
Miss Davis had been one of his latest acquisitions. She was a slave that he had ‘bought’ from a trader. It had been heralded that she had the ability to shape-shift into any known creature. It was something that Roxxon couldn’t pass up, though he would never pay for something unless he absolutely had to. Anything else he would kill or threaten to get his way, and then if worse came to worse he would break out his checkbook. But always break knees first. Davis had more than proved herself loyal. And the pair had killed her former owner together, and then set off making Roxxon Corp one of the biggest companies on Earth. One of their main rivals was Rosen corp, another Capsule corp. Roxxon considered them to be mere blips on the radar.
“Is it done?” He asked, turning his face towards her. His smile was so friendly and handsome and inviting, but looking into his eyes told a different story. They were the eyes of a mad-man, a killer. Someone who had and would gladly kill to get their way. His eyes told her what her answer had better be. Thankfully, this time she needn’t worry. She nodded and Roxxon clapped his hands together, his smile seeming all the brighter.
“Excellent. My own Saiyan Prince. I’ve always wanted one.”
~~~
Ninjin stepped off of the space ship and took in a deep breath of Earth air. And instantly wanted to vomit. It was disgusting on the planet and smelled of human and garbage. They had so polluted their own world, did they really need to go out and settle more planets and ruin them too? Still the prince had to begrudgingly deal with it. The humans had given them New Vegeta after all... Still… he didn’t have to like it.
And he most certainly didn’t like what he was doing here. He had complained about it the whole trip here, so much so that as soon as the soldiers finished unloading their stuff the pilot shot back up into space. There were ten of them in all. Ninjin, Kabocha, Shiitake, Endou, and six others that Ninjin had hand selected.
“Remind me to have him killed.” Ninjin said watching the ship rocket away from the landing pad, though he was mostly joking. Mostly. He turned and a raven-haired bombshell was standing nearby, a sign that said his name on it. There was a little heart over the j. How cute. Ninjin’s jaw dropped and Endou scoffed and rolled her eyes. Men. Shiitake and Kabocha were having similar reactions to the stunning woman. Ninjin regained his composure and walked up.
“I’m Ninjin Hattori.” Not his best pick-up line, but it had everything she needed to know in it. He was the one that she was looking for. Hopefully he was also the one she was looking for. He knew she was the one he was looking for. He mentally high-fived himself for that. The woman smirked and set his heart aflutter.
“Greetings Ninjin. My name is Miss Davis. Obadiah Roxxon has sent me to pick you up and take care of any needs you may have.” The way she said the last few words made the teenage prince’s heart nearly stop. Endo thought she was going to puke. She cleared her throat and closed the prince’s jaw for him, adding a few smacks to the side of his face after.
“Take me to your leader?” The prince said after a moment with a shrug. Davis giggled, Endou loudly groaned.
After a brief car-ride they found themselves in front of a large skyscraper, with the word “Roxxon” in big red letters on the front. The group took the elevator up to the penthouse floor. The doors slid open with a hiss, and a long strip of red carpet led to a black desk. The room was painted black, and a large glass aquarium tank lined the back wall. The prince had no idea what could possibly in it, or which contents scared him more, the tank or the chair. The chair behind the desk was high-backed and facing away from them. Ninjin couldn’t help but be reminded of one of those campy Earth movies they used to sneak at academy.
The chair spun, and Ninjin took in a sharp intake of breath. What was it exactly he was looking at? The face he was looking at seemed too perfect to be real, and then Ninjin realized why. It didn’t move. The features remained the same, though the eyes followed him. They seemed to be as happy as the rest of his face was at the current moment.
“Ninjin Hattori! Welcome welcome!” He said as his lips didn’t move. It unnerved the prince, but something told him to just suck it up and go with it. This was likely not going to be pleasant, so the least he could do was have a decent attitude about it. The man in front of him gave off an air of danger that the crimson Saiyan couldn’t shake. Maybe it was the way his face didn’t ever freaking move. The crown-prince nodded and gave a smile.
“And you brought friends! Well the more the merrier right!? Welcome friends of Ninjin Hattori. I am Obadiah Roxxon, and this is Roxxon corp. Water, tea, we have some great cucumber water, it’ll just knock your socks off.” He depressed a button on his desk “Hellen can we get some cucumber water in here for the fellas.” Then he smiled up at them, because of course he did. Hellen brought in the cucumber water and passed it around.
“Now that the pleasantries are over, we should discuss why you’re here.” Obadiah took a seat and motioned for them to do the same. Shrugging Ninjin made to sit where he was, and a cushioned chair rose to meet him. The others followed suit. Obadiah waited until they were all seated. Miss Davis had apparently left them at some point, and she was replaced by a hulking man in a suit. No doubt one of Obadiah’s bodyguards. Ninjin was finding his ki signature hard to place, it seemed to keep shifting between power levels as if in a constant flux.
“During your last visit to Earth you racked up a debt of some three-point-seven million zeni. Now I’ve told your father I was willing to forgive one point seven of that, but that still leaves us with a whopping two million zeni in debt to me young man. Now i—” Ninjin cut him off.
“When and how did I do this exactly?” The man’s eyes looked shocked, as if he was unused to being interrupted. The smile, however, remained. He appeared as if he was about to say something, but then reconsidered.
“Your majesty, as I was saying,” His words were dripping with meaning. He wouldn’t forget who he was in the room with, if Ninjin did the same. “This occurred sometime over the last six months at a resort called Phenoix La Noire.”
Shit. He did remember that, vaguely. It was as if it was on the edge of his remembering, as if it wasn’t a full memory. It was odd. But he had to admit, he had done it. He nodded and bit the inside of his cheek. Okay. Okay he had done it. He hadn’t really been expecting that one.
“No need to look so sullen your majesty, just do what I would do, smile.” The way he said it… his mannerisms…. They all so weirded-out the prince. To say he was uncomfortable around the man was to say the least. He fidgeted in his chair. His Lackeys had downright peed themselves, save the girl, who seemed defiant although silent. Obadiah did not miss this from the prince, neither had the shifted Miss Davis. “Well that’s what we’re here to discuss!” He clapped his hands together theatrically.
Ninjin shifted nervously once more. The lackeys too, were picking up on the uncomfortable feelings the man in front of them was giving off. They wanted desperately to get out of there. So too did Ninjin. Obadiah could practically taste the fear given off by the young Saiyans. Miss Davis, in the guise of the large security guard, had noticed it too. Though unlike Roxxon, her powers fed on fear. It was delicious.
“So here’s what I want from you. I won’t beat around the bush and I won’t play any more games. I need you.” The words terrified the prince. What in the world could this crime boss/ business magnate want from him? Couldn’t he simply pay for anything in the world?
“In the depths of a vault located here on Earth lies a crystal. I want it. But the problem is I can’t get in.” Okay there was clearly a catch here. Where was this vault, and more importantly who owned it? And perhaps the most important of all, why couldn’t Obadiah get in? If there was something preventing him from getting in, why in the world would it allow the prince? The man seemed to read the prince’s mind.
“It’s owned by a rival company. He won’t sell it. If anyone of my usual guys even get close to the vault, they’ll be killed. But you, you’re powerful. That and you’re a third party. They won’t be expecting anyone other than my usual crew, and least of all expecting the Saiyan crown prince.” The prince supposed that made sense. Still he wasn’t in any hurry to find out if that plan would work.
“You do this for me, and our debt is whipped clean. We’re done you and I.” Ninjin sighed. He hated doing something illegal, as it just wasn’t like him. He did foolish stuff, that was for sure, but he didn’t often do illegal things. Still his father had told him to do this. Ninjin nodded.
“Alright fine. Let’s go.” Ninjin rose from the table. Obadiah smiled. Because of course he did.
~~~
The vault stood in front of them, and the ten stood in knee deep snow looking up at it. Obadiah had provided them with winter gear once he told them where the thing was located. Wind and flakes of snow whipped up around them and created nearly white-out conditions. The vault was still hard to miss however, as it stood at least two hundred feet high and dark onyx. The prince looked from his group to the thing and began trudging through the snow towards the base of the massive structure. There was a feeling in the air, one of trepidation and danger. How could there not be, the danger had been outline for them. The men that were guarding the thing wouldn’t hesitate to try and kill them. Ninjin wouldn’t be returning the favor. This was all nonlethal for him.
The two base doors of the thing were thirty feet tall and massive, which led Ninjin to wonder what in the world they were for? Doors were built out of function of the size of things using them. So what needed to get through that door? The others voiced their awe as well. Ninjin pushed against the doors and was surprised to find them open. He turned and shrugged and entered.
It was vast and empty, though surprisingly warm. The nothingness rose above them as far as the ceiling went, and tucked in the back, almost as an afterthought, was a staircase leading downwards. Ninjin rose in the air and shot all the way up, but there was nothing. Down it was. As they descended the air began to grow surprisingly warm, and soon the steel around them gave way to nothingness, the spiral staircase continuing downwards though the steel around them had changed to open air. And… sky?
“Ninjin….” Endou couldn’t get the rest of her sentence out it seemed, too awed was she by what they found.
“Do you like it? I made it for you.” A disembodied voice said, and it sounded to be coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. Obadiah’s disembodied head appeared in front of them, and the group gathered were collectively shocked.
“What do you mean—” Ninjin called out, but the massive head cut him off.
“OH no no no. This is my world Ninjin, though I made it for you. You talk when I let you.” Who in the world did this giant head think he was?! There was no way he was going to allow him to speak to him like that.
“You’re not going to like what’s gonna happen next Pumpkin’. I’ll explain the rules on the ground.” The ground? What did he mean by—then the staircase disappeared. The ten found themselves free falling through the air. Ninjin whipped around and tried to activate his bukujutsu, but nothing happened. Why wasn’t he flying? Something was negating his powers of flight. A shock of terror went through him. Was this how he was going to die? Falling some who-knows-how-long distance. This was not the warriors death he had always envisioned for himself.
Obadiah appeared once more, though this time it appeared to be all of him. Ninjin launched a blast of ki at him, but it sailed harmlessly through him.
“Hologram my dear sweet pet. Okay so I lied, I’m going to explain the rules now. So you’re in what’s called my Murdertopia! Patten pending. The name of the game is survival. Once you hit the ground you’re going to have one day of peace. Then all hell breaks loose. You kill each other, or you die. There will be the usual environmental hazards and things of that nature, but remember only one of you can live. My moneys on my prized pet.” The maniac disappeared and reappeared closer to Ninjin.
“To show you that I’m absolutely serious, I’ve conjured backpacks on each of your backs. Nine of which have parachutes in them. One of them will fail. Once you hit the ground, you will no doubt die from the impact. The rest of you good luck.” The villain disappeared once again, though this time the prince knew that he wouldn’t be reappearing. A few moments later Ninjin felt a weight suddenly appear on his back. It was a back-pack, much as Roxxon had said there would be. He tested his luck and pulled the cord. A chute flung out and quickly halted his descent. So he was not the one. So which of his hand-picked soldiers had he chosen to fall to their deaths? Was it Endou, with whom he had a deep connection? Or Kabocha or Shiitake, two of his friends and followers since the academy? Or one of the other six, each a soldier proven a thousand times over in the field with the crown-prince.
He searched around for the others, but the sky had quickly turned dark and it was hard to see much of anything. Nearby he could pick up the sound of parachutes opening. The prince couldn’t resist counting them out as they did so, until all nine were deployed. After what felt like an eternity they heard a sickening crack, as a body makes when it collides with solider rock at such speeds. Who had it been? Ninjin bit back the guilt. They would be avenged. Roxxon would not get away with this.
After another eternity his feet eventually touched the ground, and he was more relieved than he would like to admit. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness. The other surviving eight soon landed around them, Kabocha, Shiitake, and Endou in their number. The one who had died had been a grizzled war veteran, and although a great solider, he hadn’t been a personal friend of the prince. He was ashamedly relieved. A large clock appeared seemingly in midair, and on it read twenty-four hours. The day of peace that Obadiah had mentioned. The hologram appeared once more.
“Ouch, tough break. The weak link always breaks. So the rest of you have twenty-four hours of peace. That means all of your powers are dampened to the point of non-use. Then after those twenty-four hours are up, boom goes the dynamite and your powers are restored to their fullest. And obviously Ninny here would just absolutely murder you all in terms of power, I’ve injected each of you, except for my prize prince, with a shot. This shot will randomize your power and abilities. Let the games begin. Good luck people.”
Ninjin stared at the group horrified. They… what?! How had they allowed this to happen. He was not going to allow any more of them to die. That one Saiyan had fallen to this lunatic was too much. This would not, could not, go unpunished. When the twenty four hours were up, when he got his power back, Obadiah Roxxon was a dead man.
As if reading his mind the hologram appeared once more.
“And don’t even think of trying to escape or anything like that. The ceiling is rigged to blow if you do. I’m not sure if you remember where you are, but that would bring hundreds of millions of gallons of ice-cold water down on your little Saiyan heads.” He smiled, because of course he did, and then he left.
So that was it then. They were trapped. Trapped in this world of death. Only one of them would be allowed to leave, and when twenty-four hours was up some of them would begin to have violent reactions to the shots that Obadiah had given them. Would they even have a choice whether or not to participate in his mad game? Did any of them have a choice now? Ninjin turned to face the group. There was a mixture of reactions on their faces, from scared to pissed, from sad to down-right dumbstruck. Endou was the only one who offered him a smile, though it was half-hearted and obviously forced.
“Well it looks bad right now guys.”
“No shit.” One of the Saiyans Ninjin had selected, Barrick, spat the words at the prince. There were a few murmurs of approval. Ninjin was momentarily taken aback, but given the situation he afforded the man some leeway.
“I know it looks bad right now guys” The prince began again, but once again Barrick cut him off.
“You just said that ass-hat. It’s your damn fault we’re even in this mess. I followed you here because of who your daddy is, but I have no love for you, especially not after this. If I have to kill you to get out of here, you can be damn sure I will.” He turned and began walking away. Three of the others, Mik, Leo and Fenris, followed after him. That left Ninjin with Kabocha, Shiitake, Endou and a young Saiyan pilot named Maru.
“Alright guys, now this looks even worse. But I will do everything I can to get you guys out of here alive. You can believe that.” They all nodded and tried to take on brave faces. How could they though? In twenty-four hours a mysterious shot was going to run rampant on their systems and alter their very genetic structure. It was guaranteed not to be pleasant at the very least. What were they to do. Ninjin had also hand selected four very-highly-trained killers that were now out there in this Murdertopia with genetic cocktails of their own brewing inside them. And they had vowed that they would kill anyone else to get out alive. Things were looking pretty bleak.
The group found a building and fortified it for the night. If they were going to survivie they were going to do it together. The ever present threat of the total collapse of the ceiling made it difficult to sleep, as did the knowledge that they may begin changing at any moment. Ninjin was the only one free of that worry, though… he was the reason they were all here in the first place.
The fire popped and cracked warmly in front of the group as they lay in their shelter. Maru, Shiitake, and Kabocha had long since fallen asleep. The emotional trauma of the day had worn them all out, and Ninjin and Endou were the only ones left awake, either of them laying on either side of the fire. Ninjin’s guilt weighed heavy on his conscious as he stared into the crackling blaze in front of him. How could he have been so dumb as to get led into this trap? Moreover why had his father agreed to send him here… though there was no way he could have known either.
“Ninjin… When we were waiting for you outside of the room where your father was yelling at you, we saw a woman leave the room, and then we saw you come out of the room… but we never saw your father…” The prince was startled.
“What do you mean you saw a woman leave the room? There was no one in there but my father and I.”
“I tried to tell you at the time but we all got caught up in the turmoil of your father sending you here that we forgot about it. But that woman… I think it was Miss Daisy. I don’t know how to prove it, but she had the same effect on you as she did on Kabocha and Shiitake when she was the blonde woman… somehow. What I’m trying to say is that—”
“I’m impressed Endou.” Obadiah’s voice said, as the head materialized in between them. “Miss Davis is indeed a shape-shifter, and the best in the business at that. I got her to impersonate your father and send you here to work for me. The cucumber water you drank had a mild hypnotic drug in it that made you susceptible to suggestions, which is why you remembered the hotel like you thought you did. And then getting you here was all too easy. How quick you are to please daddy.” Ninjin spat at the head, who laughed it off.
“The clock is ticking my pet. Better get some sleep.”
~~~
The morning came with the rumblings of thunder. Ninjin spat and cursed Obadiah. How long had it been? Two weeks? More? Less? It was hard to tell in this hell hole. The first day had seen little activity, no one had changed much and they hadn’t seen any of the other group since they had splintered. After noon had come they ventured out of their fortified building to test if their powers had come back. Indeed they had, except for Maru’s, whose were conspicuously absent.
Together they trekked away from their tiny urban setting and out into the surrounding suburban area. The day ended uneventfully. More uneventful days would follow, and the group had the annoying habit of not killing each other mercilessly. Obadiah appeared to them every so offer to pester them and try and convince them that they should turn on each other, but to no avail.
That morning’s storm had woken Ninjin. Obadiah was no doubt getting desperate. This wasn’t amusing. This wasn’t what he wanted to watch. He wanted to see his “prize prince” killing. But Ninjin wouldn’t do it. Not unless it was Obadiah he was killing. That he would do gladly. The air smelt of rain and was charged the way the air in a storm gets. There was something else there too. A rumbling. Then the prince noticed the entire earth was rumbling.
“What’s that?” He asked those gathered around him. One by one they began to rouse at they too felt it. Endou looked around panicked and sprang into the air. The others quickly followed, Shiitake and Kabocha grabbing Maru under the arms and into the air, and where they had just been laying fell away, leaving only a deep dark hole.
“What in the world?” He looked down into the hole, and a light shot out of it. Slowly something rose from the hole that had been created. It looked like a creature made from the earth, but large leathery wings unfurled from its back and were beating to keep it aloft. Its body seemed to be covered in rocks, but its head was similar to a bats, but with the addition of two large horns. It shrieked at them and quickly advanced towards them.
“What the fuck!?” Endou screamed as the thing began to beat its wings and climb towards them. They tried to rise in the air, but it seemed to just keep gaining.
“Endou you’re with me, we gotta distract this thing. Maru doesn’t have any powers and Kabocha and Shiitake gotta carry him, meaning their dead if this thing catches them. Let’s do this.” Ninjin cut his bukujutsu and let himself fall towards the oncoming earth-bat thing. He began to free fall towards the thing, and only then did he realize how massive it was. It was at least fourty feet long from head to tail. The power-level it was giving off was massive. Then the prince noticed something he hadn’t been expecting, and it horrified him.
Bits of Saiyan armor clung to the beast’s flesh, though not because it had attacked anything. This was one of his former men. Ninjin caught the beast’s eye and there was no denying, there was no trace of any sign of sentient intelligence left, there was only a bestial rage there. A mercy killing then. Ninjin activated his true power and began to charge a blast of ki in one fist as he pointed the other towards the beast, guiding his freefall with it. Endou zipped around quickly throwing smaller and ineffective ki blasts at the creature. It did serve to confuse and distract the unintelligent beast. Ninjin dropped down into the beast’s gullet. The others gasped, but Endou just smiled.
Moments later the prince burst forth from the bottom of the creature, dripping with ichor and giblets. He sighed and whipped it off of himself. The group landed on a stable location. That left eight of them altogether. And as Obadiah had said… only one of them was getting out. The group looked at each other. They weren’t going to let that happen.
~~~
Despite the darkness of the night, Ninjin could see every few moments when the world would be illuminated by flashes of lightning. Rain pelted his dirty crimson armor and left strikes through the grime that had caked on it. The same could be said about his face. Was this his life now? Was his life really going to be serving for the amusement of this mad man? It had been quite some time, if the stubble on his face meant anything. At some point the remaining three Saiyans had attacked the group. Fenris had turned into a feral Saiyan, his nails long, his hair long, his brow more pronounced. Leo’s body had doubled in size, and a long mane had grown on his head and down his back. Mik was the one who had turned into the bat creature.
Barrik was the worst of all. He hadn’t changed, but he radiated with power. Endou and Maru still hadn’t shown signs of changing, but they figured it was only a matter of time. The trio attacked them in the middle of the night and during a storm, a tactical advantage the veterans were sure to take advantage of. In the confusion and violence the group had been separated. That was a week ago, and Ninjin had found himself in a jungle-like area. Alone. And once again in rain and storm, though that seemed to be often in this Murdertopia.
He wondered if Endou and the rest were still alive. It was hard to imagine that this had all been his fault. He had been tricked though, tricked by a shape-shifter posing as his father. His guard had been so down in the palace, he had thought it was his father… Still that was no excuse. His men, and perhaps his friends, were dead because of him. It was a heavy thing to weigh on his conscious. No! Wait! This was all Obadiah’s fault! Ninjin was going to kill him for this.
The jungle had been unusually quiet for the normally fast paced and loud jungle. Then Ninjin discovered why. A large building appeared in a clearing in the jungle before him. It looked like a modern-day Earth mansion. From inside the building, as he grew closer, he could hear yelling.
“The latest storm kicked out our cameras and hologram feed!” He recognized the sultry voice as belonging to Miss Davis, Obadiah’s assistant. Then as if on cue, the voice of the hated-crime magnate called out through the storm as well.
“Get it fixed Davis! We can’t lose these people for a second or else—” He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as the wall behind him exploded with tremendous force. The Prince appeared in the hole that was left in the wall. Inside Davis and Obadiah had been tinkering with electrical equipment. They both looked in surprise at the prince, and then Davis’ expression turned to one of fear. Obadiah smiled, because of course he did.
“I’m pissed.” Ninjin stated simply, before activating his true power. His aura flared around him. His fist quickly punctured the chest of Obadiah, who looked down at it and shrugged before falling over, purple ichor spilling out of the hole. Ninjin looked from him to Davis. Davis vanished where she was standing, leaving the pissed off prince standing in the tech-room by himself. He couldn’t make heads or tails of the panel of controls. One video feed remained though, and it made Ninjin glad to see that the rest of the group had managed to stay together and were alive. Unfortunately they were under attack. By the other group.
Ninjin slammed his fist down on the panel and suddenly he was standing in front of them. He looked around and down at himself. He was a hologram. The group looked around and stopped fighting to look at the green version of the crown-prince.
“You can all stop fighting! Obadiah is dead and Davis has fled.” They looked at the prince, and his friends visibly relaxed. The other three however did not. Barrick snarled.
“You think we can just stop? We tried to kill you your highness, that doesn’t just go away. Your daddy won’t just let that go. Sorry kid, but the only way we get out of here is if you don’t.”
The prince couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Barrick really wasn’t going to let them out of here alive. It seemed like things kept going from bad to worse. Ninjin snarled and let go of the button he had pressed on the panel. He had to get to the group and fast. There was space-ship parked in the garage of the mansion, big enough to comfortably fit the five of them, if he could get to his people. He climbed in the cockpit and looked desperately at the controls. It couldn’t be that hard right? But he couldn’t risk damaging their only way out.
So flying himself was his only option. Hastily he left the cockpit of the ship and the garage and flew into the air. It didn’t take much to find Barrick, his power-level was greater than even the prince’s own, but not by a great margin. Ninjin gritted his teeth and flew towards the combat in a red-blur. When he arrived, Maru was unconscious, Kabocha was fighting Fenris, Endou was fighting Barrick, and Shiitake was fighting Leo. His side was obviously on the ropes. His first order of business was to make it over to Maru and make sure he was still alive. He was, though there was a nasty gash over his right eye. The prince quickly informed him of the position of the house and the spaceship and told him to get it and get back to them. They were leaving. The young Saiyan nodded and sped off.
Now it was time for business. He activated his true power and debated taking his weights off. But his arrogance won out. They would stay on and he would destroy them regardless, because he could. Because he was the Saiyan crown prince. He had been being controlled for a great while now, by his father, by the actions of the Universal Church of One, by Obadiah Roxxon in his mad quest to take the prince as a prize. That was over. That was all over.
A large blast of ki ripped apart Fenris, just after he had thrown Kabocha away like he was nothing. Gashes and welts covered the Saiyan’s body. Endou and Shiitake weren’t in much better shape. The other fighters looked up in surprise at the crown-prince.
“I tried to let it go. But now you’ve hurt my friends.” Another wave ripped apart Leo, leaving just Ninjin’s crew with Barrick standing there in front of them. His power was now dwarfed by the prince’s true power. The prince raised his hand.
“WAIT!” Barrick screamed and flinched. He fell to his knees and genuflected before the crown prince of all Saiyans. Ninjin raised an eyebrow. Then he felt a sharp pain jut into his side. Turning he was confused to see Maru standing there. Then Maru’s features melted away to be those of Miss Davis. Ninjin growled in shock and frustration before stumbling a few steps and falling. The knife was still in his side, and the pain was excruciating.
Barrick stood and kicked the Prince hard in the side, dislodging the knife. The others gasped, but the Saiyan quickly grabbed the knife and waved it at them frantically. They backed off, though they kept their eyes glued on the prince’s form. Davis sauntered over and quickly, almost unperceptively, jammed a knife of her own into Barrick. His eyes bulged and he looked confused for a moment before quickly falling to the ground, dead. She looked from the group to the two Saiyans on the ground, chuckled, and laughed. Then she disappeared. A moment later the entire world seemed to shake. The ceiling was collapsing. She had done it. They had done it. They meant to bring the millions of gallons of frigid water down onto them and kill them all. No witnesses.
From his prone position on the floor Ninjin gritted his teeth and forced himself to his feet. Blood slowly trickled from the wound, and it stung something fierce. He simply pointed in the direction of the house and then began to fall forward. Endou caught him and the group advanced. Half-way to their destination however, Maru appeared with the space ship. The group gave a cheer and soon they all found themselves back onboard. They still had to deal with the world coming down around them though.
Endou slipped Ninjin into the co-pilots seat and belted him in. This particular model of ship didn’t have a healing chamber, and so they were left with a good old fashioned first-aid kit. Ninjin grimaced as his friend stitched up his wound. Maru white-knuckled fought with the controls as he dodged flying chucks of ice and large quantities of water, and the occasional gargantuan sea creature. They began to near the top and could see the large cylinder the ten had originally came through. They were half that number now. They weren’t going to make it though. Anyone could see that. Ninjin grunted and threw himself backwards before anyone could stop him. The ships doors doing little to stop his weight with his heavy weights and the added bukujutsu. The wind kicked up all around him and the air was filled with the salty spray of frigid water as it too whipped around him. Once more he activated his true power, and using the slip-stream of the ship and his bukujutsu came out in front of it. Then he launched a ki blast at the cylinder. After he launched the blast, he noticed the explosives. He swore and threw himself down the side of the ship, tumbling as he did so. A hand reached out and grabbed him and pulled him through the back door.
“Holy fucking shit duck!” Ninjin yelled, and then the explosion came. Everything whited out.
~~~
Ninjin gasped for breath and looked around. Ship debris littered the area, as did the bodies of his friends. Panic seized his heart for a moment, until one by one they all started breathing once more, gasping for breath much as he had. They weren’t in water, he was definitely on solid ground, so where were they? He opened his eyes and sunshine met him.
Groggily he sat up and took in his surroundings. It was tropical, and they were on a beach, though that beach was littered with debris and the unconscious bodies of his crew. Maru, however, was awake and sitting up, leaning against a tree trunk. Ninjin gave-himself a once over to make sure nothing was badly damaged or ruptured and decided he was okay, despite being insanely sore. Gingerly he got to his feet and made his way over to the pilot who had saved their lives.
“Thank you Maru. You did a good thing for us back there.” The young Saiyan looked up and nodded. His face looked much older than it had when the prince had selected him for this mission, though he couldn’t blame him. They had all been through a whole hell of a lot.
“Are… Are we going to report this sir?” Maru asked hesitantly. Ninjin hadn’t even been considering the solider, or the prince aspect of this. But what was the need? After all Obadiah was dead, Davis was presumably buried under all of the water and ice, and the traitorous Saiyans were all most certainly dead. Ninjin shook his head.
“No Maru. This one stays between the five of us.” The young Saiyan nodded. It was tragic and it was brutal and it was traumatizing. Who would believe the tale anyway?
~~~
Aboard a tiny vessel orbiting the planet, Obadiah Roxxon stared at a video feed that showed Ninjin Hattori and the other surviving Saiyans. Well that just wouldn’t do now would it? They had offended him. Ninjin had even gone so far as to kill one of his body-doubles. And Miss Davis? Well who knows where she was. She might have been killed in the explosion he had triggered, but that was the price of doing business wasn’t it? She was expendable. He had plenty more pets. But there was one that had eluded him, and now he wanted it even more.
He would have the prince as his pet yet. Obadiah Roxxon got what he wanted.
Obadiah Roxxon smiled, because of course he did.
(Pl please. Heavy Weights in effect.)