Rising Phoenix Gaming

Shayuri hunkered down over one of the fallen cyborgs, her face squinched in distaste. "No," she replied. "It's popular in fiction, and I've heard vague rumors of mind-machine links, but...honestly, my interests were in other directions entirely. I never paid this sort of thing much mind." The dragon-sage grimaced as flesh was peeled away from something shiny and metal. "This looks like it would be incredibly painful, even after the surgery. How do they even move with all of these unmoving parts in them?"

Systems had been burned and looted for less than a blank check 'wish', part of her discontent with Earth's Guardian. Still, Goren's news caught her attention and she was kneeling next to the dead soldier in almost less time than it took for the words to fade in the distance, pulling her go bag out from the small of her back and unrolling it on the ground. Saiyans didn't do cyborgs. Flesh could grow stronger. Metal would not. Still, not an... unexpected trick from a leader trying to cheat his way into stronger warriors. She'd seen it done one or thrice, not that helped those leaders in the end. "Give me five minutes to see if the people responsible for this know what they're doing," she muttered, already clicking her scouter into diagnostic mode, and picking out the first of her tools, thoughts whirring into the rare instances she'd seen of augmentation like this, the biological side of the machine-body-mind triangle, "...Not that I'll be able to do much more than a first look without better tools... Is this technology familiar to any of you natives?" Her scalpel played along the edge of an implant as she spoke, gently tracing as yet unmelted wires feeding into pale flesh, golden eyes flicking up for a heartbeat to consider their living prisoners as potential... examples of less damaged subjects.

With the barrage of attacks, the remainder of the troopers were taken down, and some indeed were left both alive and minimally conscious. Shayuri was able to find that once you got close, the energy shields protecting the mechs were almost ineffective against physical attacks. Seeing this in action,Goren moved in on the second mech, and managed a flurry of blows to take it down. Most of the troopers were dead, and still of the living had removed their armor. Indeed, they couldn't see the faces, or anything that denoted them as living things. Goren shook his head. "Alright, guess since they don't want to talk, I'll crack the shell one one of the dead ones." He moved to pull armor from one of the dead troopers and got partway done with the torso, and stopped. "Oh my God.." "He looked at the others, and shook his head. "They're alive and they aren't." He pulled the chest armor off, and revealed the truth. the soldier had cybernetics built into him, it was integrated, and the flesh was pale, and seemed dead. "Cyborgs."

"Is that worth worldwide chaos, loss of life, and suffering?" Calvin sniffed, as he seemed to casually weave around the hails of gunfire. Sauntering through the barrage as he struck down one then another soldiers. "Guys, this is pointless. Save yourselves the hospital stay, drop your weapons and surrender already." Out of an idle moment's impulse, he snatched up one of the rifles and used it to whack a Red Ribboner in the head. Would probably hurt him less than one of Calvin's full punches.

Shayuri leaps into the air as the robots raise their gun-arms. Powerful wingbeats fan the flames of cooking minions into a pair of vortices as she rushes forward, turning sideways to slip between the energy beams! In another wingbeat she reached the two robots and flung herself onto the one on her right. With a roar the dragon-sage clenched her claws into its metallic hide, then reached back with her right arm and swung terrible talons up and over...catching in the armored steel and tearing it downward. Then she ripped downward with her clawed feet as well, even as Shayuri grabbed onto the robot's head and yanked upward, trying to rip the thing in two!

"Not the worst use of a 'wish' I've heard, Calvin. Height is tricky to breed for without sacrificing too many other things," she commented over the roar of Shayuri's transformation and flames and the destruction of the remaining transports. Now they were in the clean up phase, and unless this Red Fudge Ripple army was hiding some kind of champion, this fight was over. She smiled again, dancing through the barrage with an almost unheard chuckle, pausing to lock eyes on the soldier who had come within inches of hitting her even as the nightmare glow of another ki blast formed around her hands. "You! You I'm taking," the Saiyan Medic called out, marking her target by sending energy projectiles at everyone in a circle around him, "Drop your weapon or I'll be taking it away from you before you hurt yourself."

Ginka furious flurry of attacks was able to put down the foes she'd been engaging, and five more went down under the fury of Calvin's blows. He could see that the troopers were above the norm for regular humans, but still well below where he and his compatriots were. Still with so many left, they began to fire almost indiscriminately, no longer caring if they hit each other. (each of you needs to dodge vs 4 attacks at 23 each all of them do 55 damage) What was most telling was The transformation of Shayuri, into some sort of demon dragon woman, and the the twin torrents of fire that she exhaled onto the fringes of the enemies. while it didn't kill anything outright, it did serious damage to every enemy it touched. It wasn't enough to put down any of them, but they didn't avoid it. At least 4 smaller ones were caught, and two larger ones were, their shields flickering, and then their armor heating to a white hot level and yet, it still held, though where the fire touched, the outer layers were melted away. This in turn drew the ire of both of the larger robots, firing beams at her. (need a 24 or better to defend on each, otherwise it's 130 damage for each attack) Goren finished off the last two transports, and smiled. they couldn't escape now. "Leave a few alive if you can. We'll need some answers.!" he called to the others.

Shayuri ducked down and somersaulted forward in time to let the blast from the robot howl over her and impact on the ground beyond as she nimbly leapt back to her feet. "This is going to take forever at this rate," she muttered as she put her hands together. "And I have better things to do with my time." Her fingers interlocked, then quickly made a series of rapid-fire, complex gestures. Immediately those that could sense chi felt a pulse of power from within her; like the distant rumble of a torrent that follows the opening of floodgates. She flung back her cloak, throwing it to the ground. Under it Shayuri wore a suit of armor crafted of overlapping scales that seemed like metal, but of an almost organic sheen, not metallic at all. The Dragon-Sage tugged at releases woven into the sleeves, and the ties that held the scale mail together loosened. ...and just in time. Shayuri was beginning to grow. Within seconds she was towering over what she had been. Her armor swiftly discarded even as black and red plated scales formed all over her body. Her hair was replaced by scales and her horns grew significantly, arching back and out from her forehead. A long, powerful tail took shape swishing behind her...and she opened wings that rose high up over her shoulders, dark and batlike and colossal. Her eyes gleamed with a hellish yellow-orange light...and a similar light burned in her chest, leaking out from between the armored plates that had taken shape there. The light throbbed with each beat of her heart. Then Shayuri opened her mouth impossibly wide, like a snake's unhinged jaw, and the glow from within her could be seen down her gullet as well. She inhaled and the light of dragonfire grew brighter and brighter until it was nearly too much to look at... She exhaled. A wave of unnaturally intense flame roared out from Shayuri, washing over the ranks of robots to her right, cracking the concrete and heating the metal of their hulls to a livid yellow-white, like steel in a forge. She then turned to her left and inhaled again. The ranks of robots to her left then found themselves likewise bathing in dragonfire as the smell of sulfur, burning vegetation and melting rock filled the air!

"The originals weren't trained for fighting ki-wielders." Calvin mused, flowing between the diffuse volley with ease. "Then again, their leader wanted the Dragonballs just so he could wish to get taller. And no," Calvin interjected as he drew an incredulous look from the Saiyan medic, "I wish I were making that up." He grabbed one of the shooters, flipped him in the air, and then Calvin flung him into a packed knot of the enemy formation.

"Tougher than they look," she begrudgingly acknowledged, dancing forward through the shots as if the rest of the world was moving in slow motion, "Pathetic aim though." The Saiyan healer gathered more Ki between her hands, purple light birthing a brood of seven serpentine projectiles. The Red Ribbon soldiers she'd targeted before were treated to a second round of homing destruction, a writhing attack now from directly overhead. Ginka kept one ear out for the sound of her allies falling prey to the attacks of these ill-trained fighters. Between her and the refreshingly competent native male, they hopefully had the focus, but you never knew. Amateur fighters surprised you in the least pleasant way.

Shayuri's attack had indeed caused abit of a stir from one of the mecha, as systems blinked as the powerful forcefield took most of the brunt of the attack but some of the powerful surge got through to melt plating. The machine was shielded, but still a machine, and Such an attack would not go unanswered. It raised it's right arm and unloaded with a powerful blast from the energy cannon that was underslung. (need a 23 or better to defend, otherwise it's 130 damage) Even as the second mecha disgorged dozens of Missiles at Daturra(Defense 25 100 damage each the attacks are homing) Ginka and Calvin's combined assault on the troopers was impressive. Ginka's attack hit a fair number, and it didn't actually put them down, it cracked armor with each blow, forcing them to ackknowledge her as a threat. Calvin meanwhile, registered even higher. His blows were stronger, and while not fatal to the soldiers outright, the five he struck were out of the fight. Their armor saved their lives, but none of their injuries were minor. The remaining twenty-eight troopers tried to bring their weapons to bear, but only a few managed shots. (each of you needs to dodge dc 20 vs 3 attacks each at 55 damage a hit) Goren was among the last to move, and not wanting to take the opponents of his new allies, he busied himself with something abit lesser, but needed. He launched a series of energy attacks which disabled two of the transports, making sure they wouldn't be flying out of here on them.

After Ginka finished her barrage of ki energy, Calvin flew in. Funny thing, for all his pursuit of mind and body, he'd never really fought before. Competitions were one thing, but truly aiming to hurt or even kill someone? This was new territory, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it, even if the Neo-Red Ribbon Army was just as dangerous as its predecessor. But practice and training took over as he landed and spun on his foot, delivering the other leg in a sweeping kick to the first soldier and using the momentum to jump and bring a two-handed axe strike on a second man's head. Rinse, repeat.

"Obviously," Ginka drawled flatly, back to her grumpy baseline, "I'll start thinning their numbers so we can collect a few stragglers after we're done. Try not to make me more work than you have to." She shot forward through the air, a petite brunette of a saiyan in red-and-white with her palms pressed together as she concentrated her Ki into a purple sphere that bled one, two, five, seven streamers of energy in her wake. The streamers gained the faintest hint of scales, eyeslits, and nostrils as their creator came to a halt half-way between the (presumed) Red Ribbon Army and her... Well, allies if she forced herself to think well of them. Up and over the streamers curved and coiled, splitting at the tip to reveal pseudo fangs and an ominous pink glow at their core, leaking energy in the heartbeats before they were unleashed on the seven nearest grunts, writhing through the air with borrowed malice. "Hydra's. Flurry," she growled out between clenched teeth, eyes dancing as she fed more Ki into the shot. The universe rarely granted medics mercy, so Ginka's ancestors had long since stopped granting mercy to those who might make their work more difficult.

"Robots, hmm? We'll see about that." Shayuri stepped forward and flung her cloak back from her shoulders, freeing her arms. Her fingers twirled in a complex dance before her, locking, loosing, locking again in a rapid series of signs. In the air before her a circle appeared, drawn in midair by blue-white light. She spoke then, in a loud, commanding voice that rolled over the field...carrying far longer than it had any right to. The language was rough sounding, maybe a little like German. As she incanted, runes appeared within the circle, one by one. Once the inner ring was filled with runes the entire array flashed brightly and erupted into a horizontal stroke of lightning that painted the entire battalion of robots in livid black and white for a camera-flash instant. It struck one of the larger robots squarely, and immediately the target was enveloped by an oval of translucent blue light. The two energies writhed and snapped at each other, and finally the lightning lanced through and licked over the robot's armored hull, drawing a blackened line down it. The dragon-sage swore under her breath. "All right then, the big ones have some kind of force field. Good to know!"

"A few Hours? That's gonna be abit of a wait." Goren shook his head and looked at Datura. "I don't think standing around waiting's the best idea." He shrugged, and Dende spoke up. "There's probably a faster way. I can send you all there, and you can have your ship wait for you here. You will have to climb up the normal way at least once on the return trip." , Goren nodded. "Sounds good." Dende nodded, and the five of them found themselves in a grassy field, far removed from where the tower. There seemed to be nothing but wild animals around, and they could all faintly feel the pulse of the Dragonball. It took them about twenty minutes to locate it, down in a small crevasse, and Goren handed it up as he climbed out. It had seven red stars on it. "One down..." No sooner had he spoke, than they all heard the whirring clanking of machinery, and the roar of turbines. Looking up, descending about 200m off, there were six aircraft, four of which disgorged ten armed and armored troopers each. The last two, which looked more heavily armed, transformed into humanoid robots. Clearly, they were aware they weren't alone. It was Calvin who realized it "Their sensors can sense the movement of the ball, that's how they know."

Ginka scoffed at Calvin's little moderation effort, fiddling with her scouter with the deft assurance of long practice. Hmmm. Hmmmm. Uh huh. And that would be... There. Another few button presses sent out the signal that would wake up her ship and send it to her location. Assuming it could reach. Given that no one had mentioned a ridiculously high temple belonging to any sort of Earthly Guardian, the medic wasn't exactly sure where here was or what kind of protections it packed. hmmmph. "I'm picking up something that way," she pronounced, pointing southwest down at the clouds below, "Assuming our host isn't blocking the signal, my ship is already on her way to me right now. She'll meet up with us in a few hours at most, the best Saiyan medical transport to make the Cooler run in less than five parsecs." The ghost of a smile slipped across her expression as she mentioned her baby, sanctum sanctorum, and unliving companion through lonely months of space travel.

Unlike Ginka, Calvin needed no sensor to evaluate the energy, and it's very curious feel. But Calvin had no issue assessing and ingraining it. Was this how Bulma felt 200 years ago? "Cool down the posturing, Saiyans. We all can fly, to some extent. The question is," he went on, "is the ship generally faster? If so, then let's use it. If not, fly and carry. Right now we don't have any solid information on locations for Shayuri's teleporting method." "And no, I doubt we can simply ambush the Neo Red Ribbon Army, for no other reason that this is the first any of us are hearing of this, and if anyone should know about this, I would. The best bet is to track down some of these Dragonballs first. Odds are, we'll encounter the NRR in the process, and get the opportunity to gather intel there."

Datura's tail bristled at the male's impudent question. Could she, a member of the powerful Saiyan race, one selected by the Guardian of Earth to find the Earth's Greatest Treasure, fly? He might as well asked if she could breathe, or walk, or even punch! Could she fly? "Yes," she said in a tone cold enough to freeze every being on the Lookout, "I can fly. Unassisted, even." She glanced at Shayuri for a moment, then added in a more magnanimous tone, "I could probably even carry another being and keep up with the group. I offer that as an option for travel." Her tail twitched once before she stilled it.

"My ability to fly is a little limited," Shayuri admits, "but I've picked up a number of useful tricks. For example...if you have a good map and can mark where we are, and where we're going, I may be able to just teleport us there." "Or...or your ship! Even better! We can go straight there, then all ride in your ship!"

Ginka rummaged through her bag and popped a scouter over her left ear, the green lens obscuring the gold of her pupil, fiddling with the settings while the light of eldritch energy danced in Dende's hand. She frowned. The energy was certainly distinct, something she'd recognize in a heartbeat now that she'd fed the pattern into her device. But enough to call up the kind of power implied..? She eyed Goren with a scoff of distain, "Who the hell do I think I am? Of course, I can. And once we secure at least one of these keys, we can take a detour to my ship to make sure I have somewhere clean and secure to treat you. I don't suppose any of you know where we can pick up one of these NRR grunts for information? I doubt they have the resilience to recruit all elites, and any insight will be... helpful." Her tail rippled once in irritation at flying blind on anything. Exciting as it was deep down in her heart of hearts, this kind of situation was was had gotten her nearly killed. More than once.

With everyone agreed, Dende smiled. "Excellent. I had a good feeling about all of you. I will of course send more help, should the need arise, and i am able, but for now, it will just be you." He reached within his robes and held a small glass orb. "This is abit of energy that is the same as the Dragonballs you'll be seeking. I cannot hold it long, so memorize how it feels." Goren looked at it, and after about ten seconds, the energy dissipated, giving everyone a chance to memorize how it felt. Goren smiled at the others. "Okay strange question but all of you can fly right? I mean I can probably Instant Transmission us all there, but it's a draining technique, and I'd rather not waste any energy to start off."

Shayuri opened her mouth to argue, but paused to watch the image Dende conjured up. Her brows furrowed slightly as she took it in... Then she shook her head. "That's...interesting. But no, I know the situation with dragons. However, there is substantial evidence to indicate they may be devolved from visitors from other universes, a long time ago. Several ancient civilizations independently describe...in somewhat fanciful terms...highly advanced, highly intelligence dragon-like beings with incredible powers that visited them. Sometimes even more than once. They left behind myths, and legends, and...in some cases either left artifacts or inspired native humans to create artifacts in their honor. Or...sometimes out of fear." She held up a finger, then pointed at the image in the air. "But that is also very interesting. I would love to discuss this with you more sometime. It could go a long way to resolving some long-standing questions..." Abruptly realizing that everyone was waiting on her, she quickly cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders. "Having said that, artifact recovery is something of a specialty of mine. I'll help find and retrieve these dragonballs in exchange for an opportunity to talk about this 'eternal dragon' with you once we return with them."

Goren sighed at Datura's comments about the tournaments. Yeah they were for glory seekers and such, but they were actually pretty fun. He'd won a a number of them across the galaxy, and was hoping to be scouted to the Universal Team For the Omni-King's Games. They do serve a valid purpose, even if not everyone sees it that way. The tournaments are part of the reason The Universes still exist." Dende nodded. "Well said,Goren." The Guardian looked to Shayuri, and nodded. "The dragons of this world are nothing like your father. The Dragons of this Earth are more akin to large generally dumb reptiles. Dangerous in their way to normal people, but I cannot imagine them being a danger to any of you. The Eternal Dragon, Shenron, is another type. As has been said, he is something all-together different." He waved his hand, and before them what looked like a Window appeared, something they could all see regardless of where they stood. "This is my memory of the first time they summoned my Shenron." On the window, a scene began to play like a movie. The Seven dragonballs, golden crystal orbs, each with from one to seven red stars on them, began to glow, and there was a brilliant flash of light as a seemingly endless giant oriental dragon with emerald and gold scales streamed forth, coiling against black clouds darker than pitch. brilliant Ruby red eyes peered down, and a booming voice with eternal bass spoke. "I am the Eternal Dragon, I will grant a wish to those who summon me, now state it, that I may grant it." The wish was made, though they didn't hear it, and its eyes shown with scintillating light. "Your Wish is Granted." Afterwards, he smiled at them. "He is not the only Eternal Dragon, but for now, he is the one we are most concerned with." He smiled to Ginka. "I trust you understand their name now? And yes, Calvin, you need all seven to summon Shenron, but having them does grant small boons, each one is different depending on which of the balls you possess."

Ginka tiredly rolled her eyes at Datura's oh-so-Saiyan statement, but couldn't quite *entirely* suppress a flicker of a smile with that statement. At the core of their mission, Saiyan healers labored so thanklessly so that other Saiyans could live, refine, and practice their skills another day. And this planet was full of Saiyans that this Guardian had endangered by weaving the life of this planet and these Dragonballs together. She frowned, gnawing on an idea as the others talked, cementing into place as Calvin mentioned his ancestor's resurective hijinks. Planet Vegetta had been destroyed by the Tyrant Frieza and returned from death many years later. No reason was ever found, and they had looked. Here was a power that could grant 'almost any wish'. One that sounded like it was active around the same time as her race's return. Oh Hell. If she was right... "I'm in. Someone needs to keep you all in the land of the living despite yourselves," she finally added, rummaging in her Go Bag for a white lily she fixed in her hair with an air of weary familiarity, "A quick question. Why call them Dragonballs? I've seen dragons on this planet, and they seem nothing more than clever animals."

Calvin sighed at Shayuri's pompous air. "Did you miss the part where he said all knowledge about the Dragonballs were removed from the world?" Admittedly, it did sound a little sketchy, but... "Question. When you say nearly any wish, that does include resurrecting the dead?" Dende smirked knowingly. "Yes." Calvin nodded, "I figured." He gestured expansively to the others. "Remember, descendant of Bulma and Vegeta Briefs. The family records from their era kept referring to Son Goku and company repeatedly dying and then coming back to life, but all indications how were mysteriously absent." His mind still working, Calvin turned his gaze back the the Namekian proclaimed Guardian of Earth. "Our archives also have references to a past group called the Red Ribbon Army." His five-times great grandmother and Son Goku had first met fighting against the Red Ribbon Army, or around that time. "Judging by the fact they're already have one Dragonball but are looking for more, would I be correct in deducing you need all seven to unlock their wish-granting powers?"