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duhragonball · 7 years

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[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (68/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation. This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Previous chapters conveniently available here.

[24 November 236 Before Age. Extraliga.]

What happened next in the cavern was beyond anyone's ability to explain. Even the ancient beings who designed and constructed the Recollector would have been confused, as they had created the prism-shaped device for the purpose of retrieving historical artifacts from the past. They had things in mind like pottery, stone tools, and ancient scrolls. They had never considered using the Recollector to transport something as powerful and dangerous as the Ur-Ember.

This had been the Shockmaster's plan. By bringing the Ur-Ember to Extraliga, its intense magical emanations would kill nearly all life forms on the planet, while a select few would survive. This remnant would be the descendants of the ancient warlocks who used the Ur-Ember to found the Wist Hegemony, and the Shockmaster hoped that the Ur-Ember would awaken whatever latent power they had inherited from their ancestors. He would then train these survivors and use both them and the Ur-Ember to recreate a new Wist Hegemony upon the ashes of the original.

Neither he nor the Recollector's designers had dreamed that a pair of Dorluns would attempt to disrupt the Recollector during a retrieval program. Zatte attempted to disrupt the energy patterns inside it, and while this failed to stop its operation, she did more damage to the device than she realized. The Recollector was well engineered, but it was extremely old, and even the most reliable technology can succumb to deterioration. Zatte's tampering damaged a key thermocouple element. There were backups and fail-safes present to compensate for this, but these would also fail in the centuries to come. The damage was hardly irreparable, but the last person qualified to repair the Recollector had died thousands of years ago.

One might argue, then, that this was the fatal flaw in the Shockmaster's ultimate scheme. For all he dreamed of reviving the glorious past, the fact remained that it was gone. What remained was merely a collection of relics and artifacts. The Recollector, the Wistian homeworld, the handful of Extraligans who carried the genes of Wist's founders, the Shockmaster himself, and so on. Many of these relics were well-preserved and could give a scholar a tantalizing glimpse into that bygone age. Many of these relics were powerful, and still capable of working great feats which would seem like miracles, even by the standards of the modern world. But in the end, they were still relics: damaged, imperfect, incomplete, or simply obsolete. The Shockmaster could gather them together and attempt to harness their power, but they would never be what they once were. Wist would never be what it once had been, no matter how dearly he wished, nor how hard he tried to make it so.

Nonetheless, the Recollector was able, on that day, to carry out its task and transport the Ur-Ember from the moon of Planet Wist to Extraliga, across seventy-two centuries. However, the second Dorlun, a girl named Keda, devised a second plan to foil the Shockmaster. Though she couldn't prevent the Ur-Ember from arriving on Extraliga, she could use the Recollector to ensure that it wouldn't be staying very long. She programmed the Recollector to wait one billion years in standby mode, then set it to retrieve the Ur-Ember all over again, thereby transporting it from Keda's time into the distant future. By that time, she expected Planet Extraliga would be an uninhabitable rock, and the Ur-Ember would pose no danger.

And indeed, one billion years later, the Recollector finally reactivated, and carried out Keda's instructions. But by that time, the Recollector's deterioration had advanced considerably, and the consequences of the damaged thermocouple finally took their toll. To be sure, the Recollector was a very well-designed device, and the fact that it still worked at all, more than an aeon after its construction, was a testament to its builders' skill. But the minor flaws and misalignments that developed were enough to disrupt its delicate function.

What Keda had expected to happen was that the Ur-Ember would suddenly appear before her in a cavern on Extraliga. In the next instant, it would then disappear, as it was taken on the second leg of its trip through time. The only uncertainty was whether the Ur-Ember would emit enough lethal radiation in that instant to kill her and Zatte before it vanished. She had tried to make its presence in the cavern as brief as possible, but there was no way to reduce the time interval to zero. In other words, Keda expected it to all be over in less than a second. Her plan would either work, or she would die where she stood.

Instead, the Recollector of one billion years in the future failed to correctly gauge the target date and time that Keda had entered. Instead of grabbing the Ur-Ember at the very moment it arrived, it tried to grab the Ur-Ember a microsecond early. While this may appear to be a very small error, it was enough to cause a temporal distortion to open in the cavern. To be sure, it was a relatively insignificant temporal distortion to those who study such phenomena, but it didn't seem that way to Keda, who was standing directly under it. It looked very much like a miniature hurricane made of dark purple stormclouds, and it lasted considerably longer than one second.

Completely unprepared for this development, Keda fell back on her innate power to alter her shape at will, and expanded her body to shield Zatte from the unknown phenomenon. She wasn't sure how much protection she could offer Zatte, or even what she was trying to protect her from, but it was the only thing she knew to try. Above them, the temporal distortion altered the speed of the air molecules in the cavern, creating high winds that kicked up pebbles and anything else that wasn't secured to the ground. Extending her leg into a sort of tentacle, Keda looped it around the Recollector, and hoped that the combined weight of it, Zatte, and herself would be enough to stay put.

But the temporal distortion wasn't the only hazard at play. The Ur-Ember was also present within it, although it was caught between the actions of the Recollector of this day and the one of a billion years hence. Had Keda thought to look up, she might have noticed it floating amidst the swirls of purple. It was a golden sphere with irregular fissures in its surface, and something inside of those fissures glowed red, as if there were a flame inside. For twenty seconds, it hovered in the cavern, surrounded by the distortion.

Fortunately for the Dorluns, the distortion blunted the deadly effects of the Ur-Ember's mystic radiation. A brief exposure would have killed almost anyone at this distance, but the ripples through time and space that separated them from the object interfered with the flow of its power. Deadlier emanations which would have killed them in seconds now took entire minutes to reach Keda, while others were simply diffused and rendered harmless, or reflected back upon the source.

Keda, of course, understood none of this. She only knew the wind that surged around her, and that she had to protect herself and her friend for as long as possible.

Zatte understood their predicament even less, as she had been badly injured earlier, and was half-asleep from medication. As it happened, she managed to wake up at that moment.

"Whaaa?" she asked as she found herself in a dark cocoon made of Keda's pliable body.

"Don't move!" Keda told her. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm trying to ride it out!"

After a few seconds, Zatte began to recall the events of the past hour. "The Recollector," she groaned. "What happened--?"

"Something went wrong," Keda said. "Well, we didn't die, so maybe everything turned out all right! I don't know."

"Where's Luffa?" Zatte asked.

Keda had almost forgotten about her. Fortunately, Super Saiyans were never very hard to find. "I can still sense her ki!" she replied after a moment’s concentration. "And the Shockmaster too. They're still fighting."

The wind began to pick up, and Keda felt the Recollector's weight shift. Just as she wondered if she should try to reach for something else to use as an anchor, she felt a vibration from it. Then, suddenly, it seemed to cease to exist. The leg she had looped around its bulk now went completely slack.

In that moment, Keda had forgotten that the Recollector became intangible when it wasn't in use, and she had programmed it to go on standby. It wouldn't become solid again for a billion years. As she realized this, the wind became strong enough to roll Keda over, with Zatte inside.

"What's happening?" Zatte asked.

"Hang on!" Keda shouted.

Keda reached out with her hands, desperately seeking some purchase in the cavern floor, but there was none. As the wind grew stronger, she noticed that it was becoming more and more difficult to resist the gusts that buffeted her. A decent-sized rock struck her, and she realized that she had to act quickly before the storm intensified. Wrapping herself tightly around Zatte's body, she summoned her ki.

Luffa had given Keda basic martial arts training over a year ago. Keda was a quick study, and genuinely determined to improve, but she had many other subjects that interested her as well. Consequently, she had learned a lot of ways to use ki, though she had never spent much time on making herself stronger. Indeed, ki power was something of a liability for Keda, who was used to relying on shapeshifting and stealth in a crisis. The downside of ki techniques was that they could be sensed by other, more powerful ki users. Both she and Zatte had made a point of suppressing their ki during this mission, for example, so as to prevent their enemies from sensing their presence and locating the Recollector.

But the situation had clearly changed. The Shockmaster might find her this way, but Keda doubted he would get past Luffa. Besides, the immediate threat--in her estimation--was this storm. She had enough power to knock away the debris that came flying at them, and she could fly a short distance, perhaps even far enough to reach the mouth of the cavern. Zatte was a lot stronger in this regard, and the task would have been much easier if the two of them could work together, but the older Dorlun was in no condition to try.

In another few seconds, Keda might have made it to safety, but then she felt a strange burning sensation on the part of her body facing the distortion. She crashed to the cavern floor, still trying to cradle Zatte and soften the landing as much as she could for her.

"Are you all right?" Zatte asked.

"I don't know," Keda admitted. It was difficult not to panic. She knew very little about what was happening, or how to survive it.

"Keda, lemme out of here," Zatte slurred. "We can help each other get to the way out."

Keda didn't like that idea. "The radiation, remember?" she asked. "I felt something a second ago. It might have been--"

And suddenly Keda was gone.

Zatte looked around and struggled to make sense of it. The temporal distortion had collapsed, and the Ur-Ember had vanished along with it. The Recollector was also gone. It would indeed survive to complete its program in one billion years, but it would not do so on Extraliga.

The cavern was lit only by the lamps Zatte had set up when she had first come to this place. Now they were scattered around the cavern floor, and some of them had been smashed. The ones that still worked showed that the cyclone that had happened here had been real. Stones dust, and the contents of Zatte's carryall were strewn everywhere. But there was no sign of Keda.

She cried out for her, knowing that it would do no good. She tried to get to her feet so she could search the cavern, but she was too weak from her injuries.

So Zatte lay on the cavern floor, and wept bitterly for her lost friend.

*******

Locked in combat with the Shockmaster, Luffa sensed Keda's ki almost immediately. Keda wasn't even supposed to be on the planet. Her very presence was confusing enough, but then the sudden disappearance of Keda's ki disturbed her even more.

As she reeled from this development, the Shockmaster managed to catch her with a kick to her ribs that sent her crashing into a field of tall grass. She hit the ground with enough force to produce a crater. Before the dust cleared, she was already back up and streaking towards him.

"What did you do to her?" Luffa demanded.

"I already told you what would happen to this world when the Ur-Ember arrives," the Shockmaster growled. "Whoever it is you're talking about, her fate will be decided by--"

Luffa slipped under his strikes and slammed her fists into his jaw.

"What. Did you just. Do?!" Luffa screamed. She didn't know what had come over her, but she was so angry that she couldn't see straight. She couldn't sense Zatte's ki either, but the rest of the planet's energy was as strong as ever. Had the two of them saved Extraliga, only to die in the attempt? The Shockmaster might not know what had happened, but he was unquestionably responsible, and his ignorance only made Luffa angrier.

"I've already done it!" the Shockmaster shouted. "I've summoned the Ur-Ember, and taken the first step to the restoration of Ancient Wist! Anyone who stood against me, their fate is sealed!"

"Shut up!" Luffa shrieked. Her vision was just a blur through her tears as she attacked the Shockmaster with reckless abandon. She made no effort to defend herself, and simply absorbed his attacks while she unloaded on him with everything she had.

They couldn't be gone! They just couldn't be! Keda wasn't even supposed to be here! She was supposed to be back on Luffasworld, taking care of the ship and waiting for their return. She was a Dorlun, a survivor, too practical to stick her nose in a situation like this!

It had to be some kind of trick! Zatte maybe. She had the ability to alter her ki to make it resemble others'. Maybe she had mimicked Keda for a few seconds just to signal that she had achieved her objective. She should have told Luffa about that ahead of time, but Zatte was like that sometimes. Among Dorluns, she was a brilliant warrior, but by Saiyan standards, Zatte tended to miss things that Luffa considered obvious. Like going over signals before heading into a battle.

No. Zatte wasn't nearly so careless. Something wasn't right. And it was all! Because! Of this! Gutless oaf of a man!

"You miserable coward!" she raved. "You don't even know what you've done! What you've thrown away!"

"Get... back!" the Shockmaster cried.

"She's only eleven years old! She saved my life! MY LIFE! Like I was a helpless child! Showed me who I really am!"

Desperately, the Shockmaster tried to attack her with his Four Moves of Doom, despite their previous failure. But the Thunderbird would not form. He couldn't concentrate long enough to pull it together into a coherent form. He raised his left hand to summon the tendrils of the Lightning Ribbon, and for a moment he managed to wrap them around her body. For just a moment he felt safe.

Then she screamed, and the tendrils of violet energy withered and ripped apart from the pressure of her golden aura.

******

What truly terrified the Shockmaster wasn't the glowing Saiyan howling before him. It was that he had been counting on the Ur-Ember to arrive on Extraliga and settle the battle for him, and it hadn't arrived yet. With each second, he began to wonder if it simply wasn't coming.

While Luffa screamed, he used the respite to cast out with his mental abilities and seek out the Recollector, as he had done once before. But he could not find it. Someone had shut it off, or removed it from the planet, but this couldn't have been accomplished while it was retrieving the Ur-Ember. Had her allies succeeded in stopping it? No. No, that was impossible...

But it was possible, wasn’t it? Luffa had defied his expectations at every turn. This awful woman had shattered his ambitions in ways he had never imagined. She had surpassed his might, dismantled his armies, and now she had denied him the Ur-Ember. She had withstood his most powerful attacks and shattered his helmet, only to awaken his untapped potential, and now she had surpassed that as well.

And she was only becoming stronger. Once, he had beaten her effortlessly, but now, his only hope of defeating her was that the Ur-Ember's radiation would kill her before she could kill him. But it wasn't coming. Ancient Wist wasn't coming back. It would never return. It was all gone. Forever.

He couldn't beat her. He had been expecting her to tire out, but there seemed to be no end to her stamina. They had been fighting for over half an hour and she showed no signs of slowing down. He had hurt her, to be sure, and her breath was as rough and ragged as his own, but she just kept bringing out more and more punishment for him.

He had no idea what she was so upset about. The Extraligans? The rebels back on Planet Wist? She had won. Defeated him completely. Even if he could somehow beat her, it wouldn't do any good. Without the Recollector, without the Ur-Ember, his plan was finished. Even if he retreated, he would never get another opportunity to invade Extraliga and try again.

He remembered long ago when the Ur-Ember had first been lost. A vengeful god had destroyed Wist's moon when he was a boy. The god had said something about arrogance that day, and he hadn't known what that word truly meant. For a time, he had thought the god was the arrogant one for coming to Wist and demanding supplication.

But now he understood. He had devoted himself to restoring Wist, to retrieving the Ur-Ember, in defiance of the gods, of time and space, of anything else that would dare stand against him. But fate had placed in his path this mad Super Saiyan, who opposed him simply because she felt like it. Fate had made her stronger and more resourceful than he had ever thought possible. His arrogance had brought him this far, only to be crushed at the very end.

He had stumbled and fallen, and no matter how quickly he rose to his feet, he could never truly recover what had been lost. She had been right to call him a coward. He wanted to run away, but there was nowhere to run. His homeland no longer existed. Even if he could escape Luffa, he would never be able to escape himself. But oh, how he wished he could run away and hide! He wanted it more than anything.

And so when Luffa finished screaming, and she charged at him at blinding speed, her face twisted into a mask of blind rage, he did nothing to avoid her. When she raised her left hand, and made it glow with yellow light, he made no move to defend himself. And when she swung her hand like a battleaxe, aiming for his neck, he merely closed his eyes and wished that things could have been different.

NEXT: Why We Survive

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #zatte #keda #the shockmaster #extraliga #i'd space these posts out a little further but i want to get them all up ahead of nano #one more to go #nice

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