Nappa
Veteran Member
Posts: 494
Organization: Saiyan Empire
Race: Saiyan
Status: Contact Me
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Post by Nappa on Feb 4, 2024 19:46:26 GMT -5
Champion II, Human Bonus
Launch gently tugged at the sleeves of her sundress as she walked, feeling them slip below her shoulders. It was so annoying; the dress was a perfect fit but whoever had owned it before donating it back to the thrift shop she’d bought it from had stretched the hell out of the top, making it regularly drop too low. Still, it wasn’t going to ruin Launch’s day; she would just fix it later when she got home. For now, she would continue what she had been doing.
The blue haired pixie had spent the afternoon walking around the outskirts of South City in the summer heat; she had spent the previous day baking dozens of muffins to give out to the homeless, because due to some new law that had been passed in the city, they were slowly being pushed out of the city limits due to ‘loitering.’ It was an absolutely inhumane law, and clearly done to try and push poor people out of the public view, so she had happily spent the entire day giving them fresh baked muffins and wishing them well.
She wanted to do more, but there was only so much Launch could do.
As she continued walking, getting further and further outside the city’s limits, she found a strange man running around punching the air. Maybe he was an old boxer, or a retired military man who had lost his home? Either way, Launch was determined to introduce herself. Confidently walking forward with a smile, she called, “Hello! How are you? My name’s Launch!”
Word Count: 260
Launch Count: 260
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Post by Vael on Feb 4, 2024 20:51:02 GMT -5
| That's no way to face challenges head on VAEL Word Count: 306/306 |
Over the past week he’d settled into a nice schedule. It was quiet which the young Saiyan fugitive wasn’t accustomed to. He’d wake up early and head to the city outskirts to train for half the day. Then he’d spend the rest of the day attempting to do odd jobs. Which usually consisted of work protecting someone or collecting bounties for the local constabulary. The sun was nearing the zenith of its path across the sky. He’d seen many sunrises across many planets. Fortunately this planet seemed to be relatively at peace. A quick glance at the sky told him it was time to get to work.
He was dressed in loose fitting gray slacks and a black tunic. His hair was tied back at the base of his neck but his bangs were as unkempt as ever. Rather than simply walking back to the Inn to change he adopted a training routine. He’d dash forward then immediately drop into a boxer’s stance. He’d bob and weave along an invisible line before throwing out a series of jabs. Unlike every other morning someone had called out to him.
The young Saiyan was so startled he tripped over his foot and fell face first into the dirt. Vael groaned but not because he was injured. No, the only thing hurt here was his pride. What kind of first impression was this? Rather than addressing what had happened he simply stood up, smiled and bowed slightly. “I’m Vael. I don’t usually meet other people along this… route,” he started to say as he looked up at who spoke. Add that to his list of things he never expected to run across outside the city. A woman in some kind of dress. That didn’t seem like very practical combat attire but perhaps it afforded a wider range of movement?
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Launch
Junior Member
Posts: 42 
Race: Human
Status: Contact Me
Soul: Minor Second
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Post by Launch on Feb 4, 2024 21:31:34 GMT -5
The moment she'd spoken, the man had lost his concentration and fell!
The woman's face burned with embarrassment, but thankfully the man seemed rather unfazed by what had happened, jumping back to his feet and barely even dusting himself off before bowing. When he explained how little he saw other people around this side of town, it only made Launch even more depressed; clearly, she had been right, and had met someone who'd fallen on hard times. Hopefully, she could do something to cheer up this nice fellow.
"It's totally fine, Vael," Launch said, her face starting to sweat little out of shock. "I'm the one intruding on you, I should have given you some notice before just shouting at you like a maniac." She took another step forward, and the backpack she'd been wearing plopped against her back, reminding her of what she'd approached the stranger for. Quickly, she took off one of the two loops and pulled the backpack around to the front of her body. "I just have been heading around town today," she mumbled, rummaging through the bag. "And whenever I meet someone kind and a little lonely - like yourself - I offer them one of these!" She pulled out a massive chocolate chunk muffin. She'd made it with an actual chocolate bar that she'd crushed into tons of uneven pieces and wrapped each one individually in saran wrap so that she didn't have to touch all over people's food to hand it to them.
"It's for you... if you want it."
Word Count: 255
Launch Count: 515
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Post by Vael on Feb 4, 2024 22:03:32 GMT -5
| That's no way to face challenges head on VAEL Word Count: 317/623 |
Vael visibly tensed as she reached into her pack. From a very young age his Uncle instructed him to be wary of every stranger. Any stranger could be an assassin. The sudden offer of food did little to relieve his mounting concern. However, she seemed genuinely kind. Even if he didn’t agree with her assessment that he was lonely. Far from it this was the most relaxed he’s been for… well forever. Against his better judgment and his Uncle warning about possible poison in food he didn’t prepare himself, Vael reached out and took it.
“Thank you,” he said with a visible grin. The young Saiyan visibly relaxed as he looked down at it. It was obvious some care was put into baking this. It’d be a waste not to eat. Especially considering the appetite he worked up from today’s training. Better yet this food was offered freely. While that would normally raise alarm he lifted it to his mouth and took a massive bite. At first his smile held true. He chewed but then the taste hit. It was the most awful stuff he’d ever eaten and his Uncle made some horribly bland food.
His eyes suddenly shot wide. Had he been poisoned!? On instinct his hand shot forward as he launched the rest of the muffin at her face. WIthout missing a beat he stepped forward and sent two swift jabs that were intended to connect the same instant the muffin would have. The first was aimed at her nose and the second was meant to connect with her lower jaw.
The young Saiyan would attempt to step back and to the right as he prepared for any form of counter attack. “You will give me the antidote now,” he said as he nearly gagged and spit some of the mostly chewed muffin onto the ground. “Or you will face the consequences before I die!”
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Launch
Junior Member
Posts: 42
Race: Human
Status: Contact Me
Soul: Minor Second
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Post by Launch on Feb 4, 2024 22:15:26 GMT -5
When Vael took the massive bite into her muffin, she actually somehow brightened even more than she had when offering him the treat. Thus far, nobody had taken a bite of the food while she was still there, opting to thank her and putting it aside for later. Watching the joy on a person's face when they ate her food would make her--
His smile dropped, and his eyes widened. Launch felt a pang of nervousness - was he maybe allergic to chocolate? She hadn't asked! Before she could acknowledge her blunder, the stranger threw the rest of the muffin right at her, and it felt like the muffin had connected in multiple places on her body - had it exploded when it made contact? A mixture of pain and shame washed over the pixie-haired human as Vael spat out his hateful response, accusing her food of a poison attempt.
How could she convince him that she didn't know he was allergic to chocolate?! Tears began to well up as she tried to blubber out a reply through her sore face. "I'm so sorry," she shouted, raising her hands to try and wipe the bready clumps of muffin from her eyes. "I h-have oth-ther flavors - I di-didn't know you were allergic to cocoa! Could-could you maybe... maybe do banana? I..." she finished wiping her eyes of the delectable treat that had been thrown into her face and tears openly fell down her cheeks, flowing hot and freely.
"I have banana nut muffins, and also blueberry if you can eat that! I was just... I was just trying to make your day better!" As if to make the day even worse, she could feel the dress slipping once again. Whatever, she didn't even care. She just wanted this stranger to not hate her guts for a misunderstanding.
Word Count: 304
Launch Count: 819
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Post by Vael on Feb 4, 2024 22:29:24 GMT -5
| That's no way to face challenges head on VAEL Word Count: 261/884 |
Vael was absolutely certain she had just made an attempt on his life. However, rather than reacting to the attack she simply started to cry. Hysterically. “Uh,’ was all he managed to get out as his boxer’s stance faltered. Now that he took a moment he realized he actually felt ok. Other than the horrible taste he seemed otherwise unaffected. Oh shit. Wait. Was the muffin and her tears now just a ploy to lower his guard? Vael took a step back but remained vigilant. His posture was less threatening but he wanted to stay out of arm’s reach.
She seemed quite hysterical and apologetic as she offered other favors. Just as he was about to accept his overreaction and wholeheartedly apologize her dress slipped. His eyes narrowed. If poison and a show of weakness didn’t work an assassin had one other card to play. This was all according to his Uncle at least. To think he’d see all three at once. Perhaps his Uncle’s idea that he layed low on this planet was ill advised.
Her dress slipped revealing a little too much. Assassins would often put their target at ease by playing into sins of the flesh. “I almost fell for it,” he muttered as he slid one foot back. “Your false tears almost had me convinced!” Once more his body fell into a well rehearsed boxing stance. However, this time his face was a mask of anger and a wave of power pulsed out from his body. This caused dust and dirt to billow up in the air.
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Launch
Junior Member
Posts: 42
Race: Human
Status: Contact Me
Soul: Minor Second
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Post by Launch on Feb 4, 2024 22:52:12 GMT -5
Just when she was about to feel better, just as she starting to believe Vael's softening expression and begin to feel better, something shifted. She couldn't tell what had caused the shift, but his face immediately hardened and he took a step back, screaming at her and saying her crying was crocodile tears. Launch struggled to stop the flow of salty water, but her emotions were starting to overwhelm her by this point. She considered running away, and just heading home to eat her feelings with a tub of ice cream, when something strange happened. The man in front of her released a massive show of internal energy. She wasn't super familiar with it, but knew that some of the strongest people on Earth had the ability to like... activate their inner power and make little glowing afterimages.
Clearly, this bum was one of those people.
Launch's blood ran cold at the sight - was she about to be attacked for a complete misunderstanding? As the wind whipped across her face, a massive dust bubble flew up and caught the blue-haired woman, causing her overly sensitive nose to wrinkle. "Ah..." she leaned her head back, feeling instinctively that this was going to be a massive sneeze. "Ah..." the thought suddenly occurred to her that Vael was about to become face to face with the Blonde Launch, and immediately worried at how he would react. She'd heard stories about her personality after a sneeze, and always apologized profusely to anyone forced to meet-- "CHOO!"
The tears stopped. The blue up-do was transformed into tight yellow curls that lay perfectly against her shoulders. Her piercing green eyes watched Vael, unimpressed. She, after a moment of eyeing the man, put her hands on her hips, leaned on her right leg, and raised her chin in his general direction. "And who exactly is you supposed to be? A freakin' windmill?"
Word Count: 315
Launch Count: 1134
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Post by Vael on Feb 4, 2024 23:15:09 GMT -5
| That's no way to face challenges head on VAEL Word Count: 258/1142 |
Vael rolled his shoulders higher to protect his neck and held his hands up in preparation to defend himself. When she sneezed he lowered his stance but an attack never came. Instead his eyes grew wide as her hair was suddenly blonde. His eyes narrowed as even her manner of speaking changed. Was he a windmill? What kind of absurd question was that? At least any pretense was cast aside. The most peculiar thing was her hair. Did the people of Earth have a similar state of transcendence as Super Saiyans?
“Who am I? Who are you? Are you a Saiyan,” he asked in a flat tone. The young Saiyan began bouncing on his feet as he moved left to right. Vael wanted to remain light on his feet in case she attacked. He didn’t want to simply rush in. It was clear that there was more to Launch than she seemed. It was possible she intended to do the same. Stay back and wait for an opening. If that was her plan she was going to be disappointed.
When Vael stepped to the right his rear foot struck the ground with a degree of force as he shouted, “DETONATE,” which caused the ki surging through his foot to explode on contact. Dust billowed up creating what he hoped would be a makeshift smokescreen. He immediately darted left and out of the smoke. Teal energy formed in his palms as he hurled one after another where she’d been standing in an attempt to bring her down from range.
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Launch
Junior Member
Posts: 42
Race: Human
Status: Contact Me
Soul: Minor Second
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Post by Launch on Feb 4, 2024 23:30:48 GMT -5
Launch made a face at the question. "Saiyan? You mean like them weird aliens with the monkey tails?" She immediately looked to try and see if the stranger had such an appendage, but his dark clothing made it difficult to tell with only a glance. "Not exactly, toots." She waited for Vael to reply to what she'd said, but he didn't speak to her, instead shouting something - she didn't fully make out what - before a massive explosion filled the air. Smoke was everywhere, causing the blonde vixen to cough and turn her head.
Even in the compromised position she found herself in, the human knew to duck down and do a barrel roll in expectation of an incoming attack. Sure enough, she heard several distant booming noises to her left to indicate that she had narrowly avoided getting shot. They sounded like those energy bullets the robot who had assaulted her was working with, rather than traditional bullets. Launch groaned inwardly - she really had to get herself some energy guns. In the meantime, she just had to hope that the standard fare would do the job, pulling out two massive axes from out of seemingly nowhere.
The moment the smoke faded enough that she could make out the shadowy outline of her hairbrained foe, Launch rushed forward, swiping both axes with the kind of combined fluid motions that one would expect out of a master dual swordsman. She treated them as though they were two halves of the same whole, trying to cause two opposing horizontal scars across Vael's midsection. "The hell's wrong with you?!" she shouted once she entered his line of sight.
Word Count: 280
Launch Count: 1414
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Post by Vael on Feb 4, 2024 23:55:09 GMT -5
| That's no way to face challenges head on VAEL Word Count: 283/1425 |
Vael strained his eyes as he looked for any sign of his opponent. His dark gaze finally settled over a form as it emerged from the smoke that had yet to settle. The fact that she wasn’t taken out meant she at least had some skill. When she fully emerged Vael’s eyes grew wide. Were those axes? Oh shit where did those come from!? Hidden weaponry. Yet another trademark of assassins. The smart move would be to create distance and continue trying to wear her down from relative safety. That would have been the smart move.
Vael wasn’t an idiot but he did have a tendency to take a more direct approach. He exhaled quickly as teal energy coated his body in a fiery aura. As he steadied his breathing he focused his energy even through his body. The aura fluctuated as the axes moved in but his body suddenly blurred as his energy flared. Her axes swept through his images but instead of making full contact they drew thin lines of blood along his midsection. He’d managed to avoid the brunt of the attack but not fully unscathed.
The sudden burst of speed saw him jump back and up into a tight spin before his leg swept around towards her shoulder. If she wanted to cut him then he’d demonstrate that more than just a blade held a keen edge. His aura flared and concentrated around his leg as it swept down in an attempt to slam through her shoulder. The ki that reinforced the leg made the impact every bit as sharp as a knife’s blade.
He heard her speak but his mind was completely focused on survival by this point.
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Launch
Junior Member
Posts: 42
Race: Human
Status: Contact Me
Soul: Minor Second
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Post by Launch on Feb 5, 2024 0:19:27 GMT -5
Vael blurred and vanished, leaving Launch momentarily stunned. His speed was unreal... unlike anything that she had ever seen before. She was so surprised, in fact, that she briefly glanced at her axes in confusion. The glance made her realize that she had at least made contact, as a thin line of blood dripped from one of the weapons. Satisfied, she smirked and looked around to find the wannabe punk that had decided to attack her. Before she'd found him, though, he had found her.
A massive sharp pain hit her left shoulder, causing the vixen to pirouette uncontrollably, before collapsing onto the street with an unwieldy thud. The backpack she'd been rocking had been an unintentional counterweight, making her balance even worst after being hit. Angrily, she shrugged it off her shoulders, and noticed a handful of muffins fall out the top of it as she did so. The blonde rolled her eyes, knowing that the Other Launch must have been baking again. She'd tasted the food her blue-haired counterpart had made, and it was utter trash.
"So that's how you wanna fight, huh?" Launch started. "Well two can play at that-- agh!" Both axes dropped with an unceremonious clatter when the blonde had shrieked. As she'd been speaking, she had attempted to raise her arms to both speak verbally and with her hands. Unfortunately, a sharp pain shot through her shoulder when she'd raised her left arm. Clutching it suddenly, she turned to look at it and saw blood dribbling from where she gripped herself. He'd only kicked her, hadn't he? Did the brat have some kind of unseen knife in his boot? Had he stabbed her? "What the hell did you do to me?!" she growled, watching her attacked closely.
With her free hand, she reached into her pocket and pulled - once more, seemingly out of nowhere - a small knife. She didn't intend on doing close quarters combat, but rather giving herself a minute to gather herself and pick back up her axes. So she closed one eye to aim better and tossed the dagger with wicked speed and accuracy right at Vael, hoping to stab one of his smug little eyes out.
Word Count: 374
Launch Count: 1788
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Post by Vael on Feb 5, 2024 0:43:06 GMT -5
| That's no way to face challenges head on VAEL Word Count: 409/1834 |
Vael smiled at the sight of his opponent. She sought to cleave his torso but received a nasty cut to her shoulder instead. The clatter of metal striking caused his eyes to narrow. He needed to exercise caution. It could have been a ploy to draw him in. “What did I do to you? Why, I simply returned the favor!” There was an air of cockiness to his voice. Upon further inspection Vael believed one of her arms was disabled so he took a step forward abandoning caution to a desire to put an end to the fight. His lapse in judgment nearly cost him though. If it wasn’t for the glint of light from the dagger’s blade he wouldn’t have been able to react in time.
It flew through the air too fast to dodge so all he could do was protect his vitals. Both arms were crossed in front of his face and neck. He tucked his elbows in as a sharp pain began to radiate in his left arm. It felt like fire caressed his flesh and spread towards his elbow. The glint of light off the dagger’s blade caused him to stop suddenly. HIs eyes widened as he raised his arms to protect his face. Vael gasped as he fire spread through his left arm as the dagger pierced his flesh.
As he lowered his arms his dark gaze would settle on her. Blood flowed from around the blade that was still protruding from his forearm. She would pay for that. When she made for her axes he let out a low growl. He’d had enough of his. Once more his aura flared wildly as he pushed his body to move well beyond its natural limits. He surged forth at an accelerated speed in an attempt to place himself next to her. His body was angled so that his injured arm was kept away from her with his right side facing her.
He slammed his arm forward in an attempt to strike her chest with his open palm. Energy surged forth in an attempt to disrupt both her breath and the flow of her energy. Even as he risked making contact his aura flared violently and swept forward in a wave of destruction. He wanted to end this quickly before he risked any more injuries. One slip up was all it took so he considered a more aggressive approach worth it. For now at least.
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Launch
Junior Member
Posts: 42
Race: Human
Status: Contact Me
Soul: Minor Second
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Post by Launch on Feb 5, 2024 1:03:22 GMT -5
The blade didn't get him in the eye, but she was happy to see it had at least found some purchase in Vael's body. Maybe then he would back off and leave her be. But as she went to grab the axes, he actually rather than retreating chose to press the attack on her. He rushed forward, arm outstretched, and Launch attempted to backpedal to avoid whatever was coming. However, she couldn't get past his outrageous speed, and felt as Vael firmly, deliberately, aggressively-- tried to smack her chest.
The blonde vixen saw red at that point. In the middle of this fight, provoking her for no reason, Vael somehow found the time to be a pervert?
"What are you, some kind of freak?!" she yelled, a translucent aura flaring up around her. For some reason, despite her anger, she felt herself grow sluggish anyway. Perhaps it had been a long day, but she managed to push through the sluggish feeling anyway and grabbed the axes. She made a mad dash for the strange creep, swiping wildly with her axes to attempt to cleave his hands off in punishment for the actions he'd performed. She would make this unkempt-haired loser rue the day he'd ever met her, if she managed to do what she wanted to.
Word Count: 227
Launch Count: 2000+
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