Post by Queen Taras on Nov 22, 2020 9:52:01 GMT -8
Name: Queen Taras
Starting Land: Southlands
New Land: Pilaf Land
Steps Required: 1
Thread Type: Personal Saga
Thread Link:
Mode of Travel: Normal
Starting Land: Southlands
New Land: Pilaf Land
Steps Required: 1
Thread Type: Personal Saga
Thread Link:
Mode of Travel: Normal
Chug chug chugga chug chugga chug chug…
The Pilaf Express was a fixture of the Southlands terrain. The track had been laid hundreds of years ago, painstakingly carved into the landscape through the dedicated efforts of dozens of labourers. Where once their journey across the wasteland had been the result of hundreds upon hundreds of hours of work, and not all those hard-worn souls had made it across the harsh terrain, now it was an easy journey for hundreds of well-heeled travellers off to enjoy their summer vacations at the happiest place on Earth!
The interior of the train was cool and comfortable. The luxurious upholstery made a mockery of the unforgiving landscape just outside the window. In here, the furnace heat of the desert sun beat harmlessly against the windows. Bored, overexcited children chattered restlessly amongst each other, cried about the injustice that they were not, in fact, there yet, and the adults in the passenger cars did their best not to be driven insane by the entitlement of their progeny.
One of the quieter children, who had been taking the opportunity to enjoy the view, suddenly sat up a little straighter and squinted. “Papa.” He said, pointing, “What’s that?”
The older man turned to look, expecting to see perhaps a bird or a thunder lizard. What he actually saw had him adjust his glasses, squinting at the sight.
“Well, Son.” He said, “That looks like it’d be a gang of bandits riding ostriches.”
“A gang?” The boy repeated, “Should we be worried, Papa?”
“Oh, I shouldn’t think so.” He said, returning his attention to the paper he had been reading, “Nobody would be foolish enough to attack the Pilaf Express.”
Then the window exploded in a shower of broken glass, and the first grappling hook latched firmly into place.
“CONGRATULATIONS!” Taras shouted as she hauled herself in through the window. It wasn’t a dignified entrance. She had to keep one hand on her crown to keep it balanced, but at least her clawed feet were too tough for the glass to penetrate. That would have just been embarrassing. “Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and girls! Today, you get the HONOUR of providing tribute to the TRUE ruler of this world, Queen Taras!”
A murmur of confusion ran through the carriage.
“Is this some kind of joke?”
“If this is the in-journey entertainment I must say this is in very poor taste.”
“I for one don’t find it funny.”
As the passengers tried to work out amongst themselves whether they were actually under threat, the rest of Taras’ gang pulled themselves in further down the carriages. There were only perhaps half a dozen of them in total, but each of them was armed and menacing. That, more than the diminutive woman in the black dress, seemed to start convincing people that there was in fact a threat to their lives.
“Nobody is joking here!!” She shouted. “Get out your valuables and start handing them over!!”
To punctuate her words, she threw her hand up to the ceiling and a blast of bright pink power punched a hole in the roof. Silence fell across the carriage, broken only when a kid started to cry. That broke the spell, and an indignant man stood to try and confront the bandits, only for Katsu to slam him in the face with the butt of his blaster.
After that, people seemed to get the idea. The gang began to gather up jewellery and cash, shovelling it into large canvas bags with the obligatory zeni symbols printed upon them. Taras stood in the middle of the carriage with her hands planted firmly on her hips. “Good job everyone, good job! Thank you for your contribution to the Rightful Ruler of the World Fund. I know this isn’t what you were expecting, but at least now you can have that warm sense of satisfaction that your taxes are going to the right-“
Quite suddenly she was flung backwards by a powerful blow directly to her chin. Hurtling down the carriage, she impacted the far wall with a heavy CLANG, and had to shake her head to clear it. Standing where she had been was… quite a sight.
The Saiyan man was perhaps only five feet tall (taller than she was, by far, but by no means a tall man), dressed in a red shirt and jeans, with a leather waistcoat and matching boots. His spurs jingled and jangled as he stepped meaningfully down the carriage towards her.
“Bandits like you really piss me off.” He growled. “You think you can just do as you please?! This train is under the protection of TIO! Sherriff of the Railways, and don’t you forget it!”
Taras pulled herself out of the dent she had made in the steel of the carriage. A thin trickle of blood dribbled from her busted lip. Her men stared in shock; ordinarily, their Boss at least looked like she could hold her own against guys like this, but she hadn’t even seen the punch coming!
“What are you waiting for?!” She shouted to her stunned crew, “GET HIM!”
Instead, to a man, the Wild Dragons leapt from the train with their ill-gotten gains clutched tight to their chests.
“… I should have known …”
Watching her ‘allies’ disappear was painful, but Taras had never deluded herself that there was any kind of honour amongst thieves.
“So. ‘Queen’ Taras was it? You going to do the sensible thing and turn yourself in, little lady?”
Taras lifted her head up high. The blood from her wound had at least stopped, and she rolled her shoulders back. “Please.” She said, “You think I needed any of them to get what I came for?! Fool! You might have been able to sucker punch me, but I haven’t yet begun to fight!”
The pair leapt towards each other, and the passengers braced as the sound of battle filled the tiny, cramped space.
The roof of the train bulged and then exploded. Taras landed on the far side of the ruined metal, Tio on the other. Both were breathing heavily after their initial clash, though Taras had clearly come off worse for it. Her dress was ripped and torn all over, skin mottled with bruises. She hadn’t been able to use her more devastating attacks inside, not unless she wanted to risk hurting the unfortunate passengers, and that just wasn’t her style.
“You’re pretty strong.” She said, “Have you considered working for someone else? I’m in the market for a new underling.”
Tio smirked, “Don’t make me laugh. I could never work for someone as weak as you. I work for JUSTICE, and don’t you forget it!”
“Justice?” She repeated, “You think there’s any justice in this world?! I am the rightful Queen, my family were deposed by DOGS, jealous of our beauty and natural nobility!”
“Dogs?” Tio repeated, “If they were so pathetic, how could they depose anyone?”
“No.” She clarified, “Literal dogs. As in, actual, dog people. Anyway! Have THIS!”
A pair of bright pink blasts streaked across the top of the train, and Tio was forced to dance backwards as more holes were torn open in the roof. Taras followed suit, backing up to put more distance between herself and her opponent. So long as she could maintain the gap between them, she might be able to make up the difference.
Up ahead, a tunnel set in a huge wall loomed. Beyond that wall was Pilaf Land. The theme park separated from the barbarous wasteland by the tall wall; the heavy iron gate that ordinarily stopped bandits and thieves from sneaking in through the tunnel was already starting to raise.
Tio smirked as he saw where her attention was focused. “You’re thinking you’ll just distract me and let the tunnel do your dirty work, eh?” He said, “Well, bad luck. Now I can stop holding back!”
All of a sudden, the Sherriff was surrounded by a blazing blue energy. It licked at his uniform like fire. Taras had never seen anything like it! And she was even more surprised when he seemed to simply blur out of existence, only to come to again with his hand clamped firmly around her throat.
“GACK!”
Both hands scrabbled up to grasp his wrist as he slammed her bodily into the roof. In the very next moment, the tunnel was upon them. He had to press flat down to the roof to avoid the rushing brickwork, and his hand choked her tighter still. The Queen’s vision began to swim and blur as she struggled for breath. Ugh. This wasn’t, at all, how she had imagined her triumphant arrival going!
“Any last words before I knock you out and throw you in Fun Jail?” He snarled.
“Ghck, hopkin, eee!”
“… Fair point.”
His grip relaxed enough that she could suck in a breath. The Saiyan was no doubt very secure in his superiority at this point; she’d put up a surprisingly good fight, but was the ending ever in any doubt?
“Told you I’d get what I came for.”
Tio had enough time to look momentarily confused before Taras’ mouth opened wide and she ROARED right into his face. As she did, a brilliant gout of flame rushed up from her gullet to wash over him, and he was forced to jerk backwards, banging his head painfully on the ceiling of the tunnel!
Brick dust and ash coated his features as he flailed around trying to put his hair out, and that was it! She was free! Bright sunshine greeted them and the world was suddenly filled with the bright, brilliant colours and joyous sounds of Pilaf Land!
Immediately, she rolled from the roof of the train, tucking her arms and legs into a ball to land amidst the startled parkgoers as the train looped in its scenic route through the park proper. Not the dramatic and profitable entrance she had hoped to make, perhaps, but she did at least have the satisfaction of leaving the stunned Sherriff with her last words echoing in his ears:
“I DIDN’T HAVE TO PAY FOR A TICKET!!!”
(Wordcount: 1718)