Player Plot: Great Ape Nappa

[minorinpain]

Who: Nappa, Zelda, Darin, Emet-Selch, Miriam, Gohan, Sonic, Ranma Saotome

Status: Closed to those participating in the event.

Where: Nappa's hideout in a less-populated area of Elah.

What: Looking for an illicit payday, Nappa kidnaps Zelda to hold her for ransom. However, he makes sure the pay-off happens on the night of the full moon, so he can play his trump card if things go south...

Warnings: Gonna be violence.





[ooc: Will be adding toplevels throughout the day as I'm going to be travelling overnight and trying to pace myself.]

Comments

[minorinpain]

Nappa watches Darin as he rolls onto his back. After all that, and the guy is spent. His lips part in an ugly smile as the Saiyan laughs in triumph.

"OH COME ON! WHERE'D ALL THAT TOUGH TALK GO? THAT'S REALLY ALL YOU GOT IN YOU? I—EH?" But then he looks up suddenly; something is pricking his fur, and Nappa's eyes go from where Darin is lying...to the cabin. Light is spilling out of the open windows and the open door. Something inside is gathering a large amount of energy.

Something inside the cabin explodes. The walls burst apart as the roof blows open, Nappa raising his arm as debris goes flying through the air. There are flecks of green organic matter, bits of tooth and claw mixed in. Something flutters to the ground near where Darin is lying, a small scrap of charred fabric, lying on the ground near his face.

It's from Zelda's outfit.

"AH, HELL! YOU BROUGHT HELP AFTER ALL, DIDN'T YA?" Nappa observes.

"CONGRATULATIONS, CHUMP! YOU GOT YOUR GIRLFRIEND KILLED!"

[forgeabettertomorrow]

He's already dazed before the explosion. Trying to formulate a plan. He ignores Nappa's mocking and taunting and rolls over onto his stomach. He'll crawl to Zelda if that's what he has to do. He'll crawl and—

The light that floods the cabin causes Darin to look up. Was that light Zelda? No...No, Zelda's magic was golden. It was warm. This wasn't her. This was something—

When the cabin explodes, Darin clamps his eyes shut. The force is enough to send him tumbling end over end closer to Nappa. Stunned, he rolls back over onto his stomach...and finds the cabin completely blown away.

The color drains from his face. Horror doesn't even begin to describe what he feels. He doesn't even have the wherewithal to wonder if something else had happened. If Zelda was alright.

Something flutters into his field of vision like a falling leaf in autumn. He scrambles over to it, recognizing it almost immediately.

Cloth from Zelda's clothes. Singed.

"No..."

It's the only word he can formulate right now as he lays there on his stomach, clutching the remains of the woman he loves.

No...

[minorinpain]

Nappa thumbs his snout idly as he lets the drama play out before him. Well, at least he knows the blacksmith shop is wide open and all too ready to be plundered. He could just leave it there, fly off now and leave Darin to his grief...

But that ain't good enough. Darin has to understand; she's dead because he just couldn't play ball.

His boot slams down onto Darin where he lies with all the force he can muster. Nappa twists his foot into the dirt after he does it, just for the sheer, petty malice of it.

"THIS COULD HAVE BEEN SO EASY, YOU KNOW THAT?!" He roars, getting angrier despite himself as he pulls his foot up to see Darin crushed into the dirt, still clutching the bit of Zelda's fabric.

"ALL I WANTED WAS THE MONEY! YOU HAD ONE, SIMPLE JOB IF YOU WANTED HER TO MAKE IT OUTTA THIS ALIVE!" His boot comes down again, harder. He pushes down for a second before raising his leg back up.

"BUT YOU JUST COULDN'T LET IT GO, COULD YA? JUST HAD TO BE THE HERO! AND NOW LOOK WHAT IT'S COST YA!" He stomps down again, then pulls back and stares with disgust at Darin.

"THIS ALL WENT SIDEWAYS BECAUSE OF YOUR OWN! STUPID! PRIDE!"

Nappa's boot descends one final time, with all the strength he can put behind it.

1/2

[forgeabettertomorrow]

It feels like the entire world is crumbling around Darin. Zelda was...dead? No. No that can't be right. Zelda can't be dead.

He doesn't even feel the pain as he's crushed into the ground. He doesn't feel his bones cracking. Doesn't feel his ribs breaking. Darin might be sturdy but he's not immortal. Darin might heal quickly but he still takes damage. He still breaks.

Sometimes those breaks are more deep-seeded than others.

He failed Zelda. He let this happen. He was oathbound to her!

Nappa's boot slams down. His bones crunch under his heel.

Now she's gone! The love of his life! Nappa took her and he couldn't even beat him! He can't beat anyone! Not Garuda! Not Ganondorf! What the hell was all of this power good for if he couldn't protect the woman he loved?! Nappa stole his happiness!

Nappa's boot slams down. Something snaps.

Nappa...Nappa stole his home.

2/2

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Darin's fist clenches around the burned piece of fabric. His most recent and final failure.

His world was gone. Taken from him.

Nappa's boot slams down a third time.

'Hero?' The word tears through him like a lightning bolt. He wasn't a hero. Heroes win. Heroes save the day and protect the people that they love. Heroes are beloved and respected. There's nothing heroic about him.

No. Heroes protect their worlds. All Darin wants to do now?

Is burn this one to cinders.

Nappa's boot comes down for the fourth and final time. But when it strikes, it doesn't sink into the earth. It hits Darin's back and stops cold. Then, it's pushed up. Slowly. Not from any strain on Darin's part. No, he's slowly pushing himself to his feet with Nappa's full weight on his back. His bones are knitting as iridescent blue chains appear like brands all across his body.

When he stands, he shrugs Nappa off as if he were shrugging off a towel. Slowly, he turns. His eyes are no longer the vibrant green, brimming with life and fire. They're a sickly yellow and overflowing with unfettered hate.

"Pride?"

His voice is like a rumble of thunder. It carries the weight of a faultline being ripped open.

"Let's talk about pride because yours is on the line. You better kill me with your next attack, Mighty Nappa."

He stands, unmoving, as those chain-like brands flare brighter.

[minorinpain]

When Nappa brings his foot down, that should be the end of it. Darin's surprisingly sturdy to have survived even the first three stomps, but Nappa could feel bones breaking under his heel. Well, it's his own damn fault, if Darin had just fallen in line it wouldn't be ending like this for him.

Except it doesn't end. Nappa's foot is stopped at the last second, which is surprise enough.

But then his foot starts being pushed back. And that's something that's never happened before. Not when he's a Great Ape. But his foot is pushed up and then off, and Nappa is sent hopping backwards as Darin stands up.

And he's...glowy. He doesn't look like Nappa nearly broke his entire god damn body either, the way he's standing, the way his shoulders are set, the way Darin is glaring at him.

The fear returns, just for a second. That maybe Nappa has rather badly underestimated Darin. But only for a second.

"HUH! SO YOU GOT YOUR WIND BACK. DOESN'T MATTER." Nappa cracks his neck from side to side. "I'LL STILL GRIND YA BACK DOWN INTO THE DIRT. HA, IT'S PROBABLY THE KIND THING TO ANYWAY. I'LL SEND YA TO JOIN YOUR OLD LADY IN HELL SO YOU DON'T GOTTA LIVE WITH THE SHAME THAT YOU COULDN'T PROTECT HER!"

The Saiyan begins to gather his energy. The little shrimp wants Nappa to kill him in his next shot? Fine, then he'll use the biggest hit he has. A little trick he's refined over decades of battle and destruction. In terms of sheer, destructive power, it's the most powerful technique in Nappa's arsenal. He's levelled cities with it, just in his regular form. When enhanced by the power granted by his Great Ape form? Well, Darin's gonna regret his words, that's for sure. Not that there's gonna be much left of him standing once all is said and done

Nappa's arm rises as the power continues to gather around him, causing Nappa's body to glow with the accumulated energy, and he lifts his hand up as the energy builds to its crescendo.

He extends his middle and index finger and makes a short, sharp gesture up, and the collected energy is released around Nappa, blasting outwards in the release of the Giant Storm.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Darin waits for Nappa to...do whatever it is he's doing. He already saw the giant bastard belch an energy blast out of his mouth so nothing, at this point, would surprise him.

He widens his stance a bit and watches.

When Nappa unleashes his Giant Storm, Darin doesn't defend. He throws his arms out wide to take as much of the blast as he can. If this kills him, it kills him and he'd be happy for it. What was the point of surviving this fight if Zelda was gone? The only thing he'd have left would be to tear Nappa apart. Hell, taking Darin down now would probably make Nappa into a hero.

The wave of energy rips into Darin. It shreds through him and the new torrent of pain just reignites the hatred for the man even further. This bastard...it's his fault Zelda died! It's his fault he's alone again!!

IT'S ALL. HIS. FAULT!!!!

Above the tumult of the attack is the sound of metal chains snapping.

-Plink-

-Clack-

-Plink-

The brands evaporate off of Darin's body link by link and the roar he lets out shatters the night sky like a pane of glass. Darin's voice, super-imposed over a second voice. Something primal and hate-filled and loud enough that it sounds like a god is screaming. It could easily be mistaken for the death throes of a dying man.

When the Giant Storm ebbs and the ground is covered with smoke, there's nothing.

Except for Darin's form tearing through the smoke to strike Nappa in the kneecap with the force of bomb. His coat is torn to shreds. His shirt hangs in tatters. And those horrible chain-like brands are evaporating into glittering blue dust one link at a time.

-Plink-

-Clack-

-Plink-

[minorinpain]

Nappa starts to grin as the Giant Storm goes off, but there's something over the noise of the explosion. A sound that erupts out of the fire and drowns it out. It...might be a death cry? Nappa's heard more than a few over the years, and the Giant Storm is his most powerful technique. Yeah. Showed 'im.

Nappa's arm begins to lower. It's done. It's gotta be.

Except suddenly something is darting through the smoke towards him and suddenly Nappa's knee explodes in pain. Bone breaks under the force of Darin's strike, causing the Great Ape to lose his footing and fall. He grasps at his broken knee with a gloved hand.

"Y-YOU LITTLE SHIT! THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Just one Great Ape-empowered ki blast was enough to ruin Darin's day five minutes ago, but he just shrugs off a Giant Storm? No, no way. He's gotta be running on adrenaline. That's what that is. He'll collapse soon enough once it wears off. Nappa's hand comes down in the meantime, trying to slam Darin into the ground while he cradles his knee with his other.

"DIE!"

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Darin spins out of the way of the hand by a calculated hair's breadth, then uses the force generated by the spin to swing his leg up and bring his heel down on Nappa's wrist with a strike so powerful it should have blown his own leg off. The moment his heel connects, several links of those chains evaporate, and a pulse of energy ripples through him. He's healing on the fly. He's damaging his own body severely with these strikes only to have them healed in moments as more of his restraints slip away.

But he's far from done.

He rushes up Nappa's arm like a streak and throws a haymaker squarely into Nappa's jaw. Not enough to break it. No, he wants the bastard to be able to talk. Because he wants to hear his last words. But it's more than enough to send even a monster of his size sprawling.

"I told you."

He hits the ground and straightens up.

"I warned you. Now I'm going to pick you apart."

He doesn't wait. He rushes Nappa and begins battering him with earth shattering blows. He targets joints, extremities. Anything to bring the most pain while keeping the bastard alive.

"Come on! Aren't you the 'Mighty Nappa?!' Weren't you going to kill me?!"