The Pendulum Room (Complete)

Pendulum Room

Hard Quest

Requirement: Must have completed Guardian's Trial.

Reward: 1,500 zeni and +1,400 bonus XP.

After completing his trial, Kami takes you to the Pendulum Room. It takes you back in time to face a an ancient villain, more powerful than yourself. You must survive this encounter to reap the rewards of Kami's special training.

Sairai showed off his newest technique to Kami. It had been a grueling two months, but he had managed to survive and even thrive with most of Kami’s training regimen. There was nothing the young Changeling wouldn’t do to master the arts that the wise master was trying to teach him. After watching his demonstration, in which he held his power back but still delivered devastating blows to the training dummy that Kami had personally helped build.

“You’ve grown enough for the final test. Don’t worry, you’ll still be training under me after this, but this test should help you grow exponentially stronger than you are already.”

Sairai cocked his head. He’s explaining well ahead of my questions. This mean I’m not gonna like it.

“Your look of distrust is evident, even though I cannot read your thoughts like Korin can. You already know well ahead of time that this is going to be dangerous. It will be. It’s going to be more dangerous than the Trial of the Elements.”

Sairai rolled his eyes, but nodded at his master anyway. “Well, what’s the challenge?” He hid the fear he was feeling well enough, though anyone with a brain would know that he was not looking forward to this at all. Once they reached the door, Kami put his thin, almost weightless hand on the young man’s shoulder.

“This will be your final test. You will face one of the greatest evils the universe has ever seen, fresh from the past, at the absolute height of his power.”

Sairai felt like someone had just brained him with a rock about the size of the sun. He staggered under the weight of the news, and couldn’t help but half smile as though he was sure he would succeed. He looked at Kami, then at Mr. Popo, and then back at Kami.

“Are you sure I’m ready to face someone like this?” he asked, his voice a whisper. Kami nodded, and Mr. Popo didn’t say much of anything, just stood there with his hands clasped behind his back like he had before. The young Changeling gulped and walked into the room.

The room was pretty much shrouded in darkness except for the pendulum swinging from the ceiling and the glyph glowing on the floor. This looked almost like the room he had been brought to before, but instead of an uplifting energy, it felt dark, dank, and downright unpleasant. Sairai’s skin crawled as the energy continued to radiate throughout the room. A dark look fell over the Changelin’s face as he beheld the gateway to his final test. He was wary of continuing forward, but knew that if he didn’t, he would be a failure.

He walked into the middle of the glyph and stood there, waiting for Kami to do what he knew was best.

“Are you ready?”

“Not really, but I’ll do my best.”

Kami smiled and nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Don’t hold back. To do so would lead to your destruction.” He nodded to Mr. Popo, who said a few words in a language Sairai was unfamiliar. In a flash, Sairai was gone. Kami turned to Mr. Popo and said, “I hope the child understands what I told him. If he doesn’t fight at his full power, he’ll have no chance or receiving any benefits from this training, and I highly doubt he’ll be returning to us.”

Mr. Popo nodded and turned away, walking out of the room while supporting Kami on his shoulder. The old master had been exerting himself far too much lately, and he needed his rest. Sairai, on the other hand, would be training against an opponent who’d be likely to kill him.

“Do your best, child…” Kami said as he made his way out of the room.

Sairai, of course, couldn’t hear anything his master was saying, as he was now trapped in the astral realm where a shade of an extremely powerful being from aeons past would appear to fight him. The sky was a marvelous blue, and grass swayed around the Changeling’s ankles. Overall, it looked like an idealized setting from Earth, one that Sairai would be immensely comfortable calling his home.

A crack of lightning in the distance heralded the summoning of the ancient being from the past who would stand as Sairai’s challenge. The sky turned red and fire rained down from the heavens as a dark shadow rose from the ground. Eyes the color of burning coals surveyed the area and locked on to the smaller being before him, before suddenly cooling into a strange dark orchid color that Sairai had never seen in nature.

A guttural laugh escaped the being’s lips as it materialized into the physical. Claws made for rending flesh and burning skin covered his body, little wisps of smoke coalescing around his body, even as the horns on its head grew out in length and leathery wings sprouted upon his back. “A new challenger. Oh, what fun!” the beast said, barely able to contain his laughter.

As his body continued to solidify, Sairai could tell that this fight wasn’t going to be easy right from the outside. It was an almost demonic figure, at least until the red scales started to form over the burning flesh. They had the look of garnet and shone brightly in the darkness of the now blood red sky.

The Changeling backed away slowly as the being began to approach him slowly. He had had just about enough of fighting enemies like these. A pair of black, demonic looking swords appeared in the being’s hands, and he crossed them over each other in a wicked pose before letting both blades fall to his sides.

“I haven’t had a good hunt in a long time. Puny being, speak your name so that we may begin this.”

“My name is Sairai. May I have yours?” Sairai asked, his eyes betraying his fear, even though he forced his voice to remain steady.

“Ah, a quarry with manners? Now this is a refreshing surprise. Most would just attack me without introducing themselves first, screaming something like ‘Die, demon!’ or something equally in bad taste. My name is Drago. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The demonic creature bowed before the young man, his eyes never leaving the Changeling’s face.

“Alright, I suppose the formalities are up. Let’s begin. I’ve been wanting to rend someone into pieces for quite some time now. I hope you’ll at least provide me with a decent challenge.”

With that, the creature charged forward, fangs bear, and sword poised for a deadly strike.

WC: 1,103

Sairai took a step back as the large, dragon-like being stepped toward him at a slow and menacing pace. Kami said this thing was among the most powerful being who ever lived. How am I supposed to fight something like that?!

Drago chuckled, flashing his pearly whites. “It’s really quite simple. You’re supposed to try and fight me. It doesn’t mean you’re going to win or even survive.” He struck out with his swords, trying to split the Changeling’s midsection wide open. The Changeling dodged out of the way, using his speed to his advantage, and fell backwards, letting two hands hold him up as he struck out with his tail at the demon’s feet.

The dragon man dodged by simply skipping rope over the younger being’s tail, and chuckled lightly. “You playing a game down there kid?”

Sairai held his emotions in check as he looked up at the being above before slamming his foot into Drago’s midsection. “If you think I’m playing around, try this!” The Changeling levitated to his feet and shot a barrage of a half dozen Death Beams at the being, whom merely deflected them with the flats of his swords. “You have to be able to do better than that! I’m getting bored over here!”

The dragonic being charged forward at a speed that the Changeling’s eyes could not possibly follow, and he planted the flat of his sword against the being’s chest before pushing as hard as he could, careful not to puncture the skin. “Hehehahaha! Come on! I want to feel the pain that you can inflict on me! You have to be capable of more than this. I can sense the hidden energy deep within you. Unleash it! Unleash it and make me fear you! Make me beg for mercy! I want to scream in pain, I want to feel your punches and kicks break by bones and tear my muscles!” He brought one of his swords up to his other hand and ran a finger lovingly along the blade.

“After all, boy, pain is life…”

Sairai finally understood what kind of monster he was facing here. It didn’t care about life, world domination or any of those things. It was a being of pure destruction similar to the large Saiyan he had battled before, only this time much more powerful. A fine sheen of sweat covered the Changeling’s body as he beheld the being before him, and fear held him in one place. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t do anything. He was up against a foe who was more powerful than him, and one that didn’t care about how much pain the Changeling inflicted on him. All he wanted was to feel and inflict pain.

“Wh-what kind of monster are you!?” Sairai screamed at the being, which only caused it to laugh.

“What kind of monster, you ask? I’m the best kind. I’m the type of monster who doesn’t give two damns about anything, anyone, or any place in this universe. As long as I’m happy, as long as I’m causing and receiving pain, I’m fulfilling my purpose! I level entire planets merely for my own amusement! Don’t kid yourself into thinking that I have some kind of higher purpose here. I don’t want anything to do with material good, outside of those that give me the ability to cause more pain, more suffering.”

“You really are a monster. You’re not motivated by greed, but by some sick sense that this shit is fun. You’re more pathetic than any being I’ve ever fought, and regardless of whether you’re merely a shade of the past or not, someone has to put an end to you!”

“Oh, so you’re ready to fight for real, now? Excellent.” The being clashed his swords together, making a truly unbearable sound with them, metal screeching against metal. Sairai could feel the field growing darker around the two fighters, but it didn’t shake his resolve at all.

Sairai pushed his ki up and beyond his normal limit, and immediately felt his muscles and bones growing to accommodate the increased output. His teeth clenched and his body doubled over as the power began to break down and rebuild all of the musculature and skeletal structure of his body. He could feel his torso growing larger, and his legs and arms along with it. He stood now at just over six and a half feet tall. His body was slimmer than most who achieved this form, but that was only because of his focus on speed instead of pure unadulterated strength.

He looked at the now slightly shorter being before him and smiled wickedly. “You want pain? Alright, I’ll show you pain.”

“So you got bigger… Is this supposed to impress me, shape shifter?” the man asked, a slight smirk upon his lips. Sairai shook his head and smiled. This wasn’t going to be easy, but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve, and the being before him was completely unaware of the power boost that a Changeling’s transformation would give him.

Since he knew that this was a world of imagination more than physical substance, Sairai charged up his most powerful attack, the Death Ball, and held it steady right above his head before throwing it directly at the man before him.

The ball of deadly, black-blue crackling ki homed in on the dragon being and hit dead center, exploding on impact and leaving a sizable crater where the man stood.

A deep, thundering laugh filled the air as the man stood on the air, his wings flapping in the breeze. His skin was smoldering, his body was banged and bruised, but the being known as Drago just outright refused to give up. “Oh yeah, now that’s more like what I was talking about. You really will be fun prey! I’m going to make you beg for death before I’m done with you… This is going to be so much fun!”

The insane being immediately flew toward Sairai, the lethal intent evident upon his face.

WC: 1,009
TWC: 2,112

As the dark being sliced downward with his sword, a strange beam of energy erupted from the blade int a straight line, and Sairai had to struggle just to dodge it. “Come now, don’t leave me out in the cold like this, kid!” the beast yelled at him, a wicked gleam in his eyes. Sairai evaded the second slicing attack that came at him and used his superior speed to get behind the being, but it was already too late. The dragon creature was already turned around and facing him. “Not so fast…”

The blade bit into Sairai’s arm like a snake, spilling his blood across the ground. He looked at the beast of a man in a mix of shock and confusion. “You’re nothing more than a monster! I’ll beat you to within an inch of your life!” Sairai screamed, allowing his anger to blind his judgment.

He rushed forward and kicked the creature in the stomach before hammerfisting him in the back of the head, sending him plummeting toward the ground below. The creature managed to stop himself shortly before hitting the ground. That omnipresent smile was still plastered across the dark being’s face. Sairai could feel the dark energy coming off of him in waves.

“The brighter the light, the deeper the darkness, so says the man I serve. Your light is bright, so my darkness must be deeper than it has ever been in my entire life. Let me show you that you are not the only one able to transform!”

The creature’s maniacal laughing filled the area once more as he began to grow in size. His large, leathery wings grew at least five times their regular size and enveloped his body, like a large, demonic looking egg. Sairai backed away from the transformation. The dark energy pulsating off the creature was becoming almost too much to bear. He could barely breath, let alone mount an assault against power so overwhelming.

Finally, the wings unfurled, revealing something Sairai was not willing to see, but he had no choice but to accept the truth of the matter. His opponent had grown to exceed twenty feet tall. As he looked up at the giant humanoid dragon before him, stark ruby scales shining strangely in the preternatural light, he was filled with a sense of dread unlike anything he had ever felt before in his entire life. As the being’s wings extended to the heavens, dark clouds began forming above them. Slivers of white light were able to pass through the shadows overhead, but only enough to give the Drago creature an even more frightening visage.

Sairai couldn’t believe what he was being forced to fight. This thing was beyond natural laws, beyond anything he had ever seen, even from his own race. This transformation wasn’t natural. It seemed to be fed by some supernatural power that only someone as dark end corrupted as the being before him could access, a dark depth within his soul that allowed him to become the true monster that he was within his very soul.

“Fear incarnate…” the dragon spoke, what appeared to be a black mist pouring from between his lips. Sairai had to admit that it was a fairly accurate description. The large creature radiated power, power above and beyond anything Sairai had thought possible to achieve.

“This… this can’t be real,” Sairai said to himself, shaking in absolute terror as the large being looked down at him with what appeared to be a kind expression.

“Oh, but it is. This is my true form, and you will soon know the true meaning of fear.” The words, spoken as gently as if to a lover, made Sairai feel absolutely sick to his stomach. His shaking continued for a few moments before he finally decided that he’d had enough of cowering in fear of this thing.

Charging all of his energy into his body, he rushed up at the large dragon and punched him straight in the jaw. The large creature seemed not to notice the attack at first before he lost his balance and fell back, landing on his tail.

Sairai screamed in triumph as the creature began to stand up, and then immediately gathered his ki into his right index and middle finger before making a swiping motion, unleashing the Daichiretsuzan, an attack designed to rip an opponent into pieces with a single swipe. When it barely made a dent in the dragon’s armor like scales, he decided to continue unleashing the attack with one hand, while he charged more ki into his left hand and released a barrage of Death Beams at the creature’s soft underbelly.

Drago screamed in pain and started laughing as the attacks finally pierced his outer shell and began causing actual harm to him.

“You won’t be able to inflict fear on anyone ever again, you monster!” Sairai screamed as he charged a pair of Death Balls above his head and tossed them both over handed into the large hole in the creature’s abdomen where he had attacked him.

“Goodbye, and good riddance…” Sairai muttered under his breath as the explosion from his pair of attacks erupted from within the creature, a blast of fire and ask coming out of his mouth and the gash in his midsection.

“Gwaah!” the thing yelled as it was reduced to a smoldering piled of ashes and banished from the realm that it had come to inhabit.

Something was off, though. Sairai should have been sent home by now. Instead, all he heard in the background was a soft clapping sound. He turned on his heal and saw a person hidden by the shadows, dressed in a black cloak, with glowing purple eyes peeking out from beneath.

“Bravo. You killed my living servant in the astral realm. I hope you’re proud of yourself. True, you beat him, but he is still very much alive. Trust me, he’s going to be looking for you now.”

“Who in the hell are you?”

“Hell… Huh. This prison will only continue to hold me for a short time. My name is Lorenor, and I am the one who was summoned here to test you. That man you just defeated was merely the strongest of my followers. I’m your real test.”

Sairai couldn’t believe it. He collapsed to his knees, unable to continue. Something had gone horribly wrong. He’d been attacked by a man who wasn’t even the one meant to test him. He’d wasted all of his energy fighting an opponent that, while superior to him in almost every way, wasn’t even the one who he was supposed to be fighting. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

The man who called himself Lorenor stepped out of the shadows and into the indirect light of the clouds above. “I’m sorry, but it is very true. Don’t think me an ungracious host, by any means, though. Drago is my self-appointed guardian. He would have done this even had I not given the order. Let’s get you fixed up. I want you at full strength when I send you crying back to Kami.”

The man extended his hands and filled Sairai with a strange energy that repaired his physical injuries and gave him his full strength back. “Why?”

“Why? I haven’t had a decent challenge since I died. You think I want to fight a half dead Changeling when I can fight one who’s at full strength? I’m evil, not a coward.”

Sairai raised his brows for a moment, but shrugged and decided it was better not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

WC: 1,270
TWC: 3,382

“Alright. You’re all healed up. No excuses if you lose. Let’s begin,” Lorenor said to the young man. Before Sairai could even respond, Lorenor’s fist had stricken him beneath the armpit and sent him flying across the field. The man didn’t let up, either, tossing off his cloak and raising his hands to the sky, he somehow managed to summon a bolt of solid dark energy down from the sky to strike Sairai in chest, crushing him even further into the ground.

The dark being stopped for a moment and crouched over the hole he had punched Sairai into. “Confused, scared? Don’t be. I’m not even trying yet.” Sairai looked into the face of his opponent and almost screamed from the shock. A pale, gaunt, deathly looking face beheld him, and he had no eyes. In the place of what a normal person would call eyes were two glowing balls of pure energy of what Sairai could only assume was a magical nature. Black dreadlocks fell down the man’s back, stopping just above his tail bone.

There was something decidedly wrong with this man’s appearance, as though he were some kind of dark wizard from a world that even the Planetary Trade Organization hadn’t heard of before. The creature reached in and grabbed Sairai’s arm before throwing him out of his crater. Sairai was able to catch himself this time, stopping in midair. However, the other being seemed to know he was going to do this and just followed up with a black and purple ki wave that caught Sairai in his back. It was painful, but nowhere near as lethal as some of the attacks Drago had used, at least.

At least, that’s what he thought. Sairai suddenly found that he couldn’t move, and he was plummeting like a stone toward the ground below. Lorenor caught him in midair and landed on his feet deftly, before dropping the kid on the ground like a sack of spoiled potatoes. “You… what did you…”

“Shh-shh-shh-shh-shh… I just temporarily paralyzed you. It’s nothing to worry about.”

This guy is seriously sadistic! the Changeling thought to himself as he struggled to move at least one part of his body. A strange box appeared in the hands of his tormentor. A calm, almost serene smiled appeared on the man’s face, though Sairai knew that it was a con. A most sociopathic aura radiated off the man as the box transformed itself into a weapon, what appeared to be a ritual knife.

Sairai forced his ki to expand far beyond its normal threshold to break the power of the paralysis, and finally broke free and rolled out of the way as the knife cleanly stabbed into the ground where he had once been.

“You broke my spell. How disappointing. I was hoping to open you up a bit and see what makes your race tick. After all, I haven’t seen many true shape shifters in my time. Oh well…” the dagger disappeared from his hand as he spoke. “I suppose I can just cut you up after I’ve knocked you out or killed you.”

A strange power seemed to envelop the dark being as he walked towards Sairai. Most ki caused rocks to fly up, since the powers of most actually decreased gravity. This man, on the other hand, had an aura that actually caused the earth beneath him to tremble and compact beneath him, as if he was intensifying the gravity around himself tenfold. The dark power radiating from his eyes actually stifled all other energies nearby, and even caused Sairai’s own ki level to fall slightly, no matter how hard he tried to keep it pushed up to his maximum.

“Damn it…” Sairai muttered under his breath as the demonic figure approached. He could barely keep his ki up, let alone take on this psychopath by himself. “There’s got to be something I can do to win.”

The only way to win is to not give up, a voice echoed in the back of the young man’s mind. He didn’t remember quite where he had heard that voice before, but he knew it was something that he had believed to be true up until now, and something that he had to hold on to with all of his might.

The crushing aura of the man made it hard, but Sairai pushed himself up from the ground with all of his might, and looked the man right in his violet orbs before screaming and smacking him right across the face. Due to the increased gravity, the man hardly budged, but Sairai could tell he had made an impression.

Lorenor smiled slightly as the attack connected. “Not bad, seems you actually managed to cause me a little bit of pain, but-“

“I’m not done yet!” Sairai screamed, even though his lungs were laboring beneath the gravity that the man had called forward with his mystical powers. He swung his tail around and bashed as hard as he could into the man’s ribcage. He then followed up by lowering his hand to the man’s chest and unleashing a ki wave directly into his abdomen as hard as he could, which finally picked the dark sorcerer up off of his feet and sent him tumbling backward a little.

Finally, Sairai followed up with Daichiretsuzan, attempting to cut the man in half and send him back to Hell where he belonged.

The attack ricocheted off of some unseen force beneath the man’s robes. “No…” Sairai said, the exertion of operating under such conditions slowly wearing away at his resolve.

Lorenor reached up to his chest and pulled off his robes, revealing a dark armor that seemed to be made out of a living creature. “A symbiotic armor? I didn’t think such things actually existed.”

The dark being shrugged and responded, “I suppose they wouldn’t in your neck of the universe. In my world, however, they are to be found everywhere, and if you can master one…” he chuckled, “You can become nearly invincible with their help!”

The man disappeard for a moment before reappearing next to Sairai, hanging upside down in the air. “Do you really think I’m taking this seriously for even a moment? If I had, you’d already be dead. I’m just trying to enjoy myself and get the most fight out of you as I possibly can before I send you packing back to Kami, alive, but with a mightily deflated ego.”

Sairai growled as he stood up once more, his ki flaring out in even cold waves, like a heartbeat. Something in his demeanor had changed entirely. His eyes seemed to glow with an inner light. A light smile played across his lips. “I won’t be able to win with my strength alone. I’m going to have to think this through.”

He pondered for a moment and watched as a single ray of light pierced the skies and released a ray of spectral sunshine down upon the world, which caused the other man to take a step back into the shadows. I think I get it now, the Changeling decided. The man he was fighting wasn’t all powerful. He had one very decisive weakness. Sunlight, imagined or real, would be enough to cause him significant pain, perhaps enough to even weaken him enough to send back to Hell.

Sairai gathered up his ki into one final Death Ball and looked at the man before him. Lorenor smiled for a moment and prepared himself to block the young man’s attack. “Do your worst,” he said.

“Oh, I’m planning to,” Sairai responded, and threw the Death Ball directly into the sky.

The dark being looked completely shocked, but there was nothing he could do but watch. Even if he could match the speed of the Death Ball, he’d have to block it with his own body, and while it wouldn’t kill what was already dead, it would be more than enough to severely injure him.

“Damn you,” he said as he slinked back into the shadows and put his cloak back on. “We’ll fight again some day, my Changeling friend. And you won’t have a source of natural light to rely on there, either.”

With that, the being just vanished from the corporeal, and Sairai was just a suddenly back in the Lookout as he had been placed on the field of battle with the two terrible dark beings he had been forced to face before.

He collapsed to the floor from exhaustion and didn’t even notice when Kami came in.

WC: 1,425
TWC: 4,807

Sairai woke up a few hours later in a bed with Mr. Popo standing at a bedside vigil. The small Changeling looked up at the genie with a half smile. “I did it.”

Mr. Popo looked down at him with a smile and said, “Yes, yes you did. I don’t know how you managed to defeat that… thing, but I’m glad you did, nonetheless.”

“I… bluffed,” the younger man said, laughing silently. “I made him think I’d part the clouds and reveal the sun. I don’t know if it would have worked, but it was enough to get him to give up.” The young man’s smile disappeared into a frown as he ended the sentence. “I don’t think Hell will be able to hold someone like him for very long. I see him coming back to life, and he might seek out the Earth just to sate his own ambitions.”

“No need to worry about that, young one. We’ll be sure to have plenty of warning before than thing comes to find Earth. It’ll take him years to make it here from his own world. I know some souls have managed to escape the judgment of hell, but this one won’t be able to escape so easily. I’ll speak with the Kais and make sure of that.”

“The… who?”

“Don’t you worry about it. I’ve got it all under control. I know you ended up fighting one more evil than I said you would, but it was a good test. You’ve proven yourself to be more than capable as a fighter. Your training is far from complete, but you have shown great promise, and I will show you everything you ask me to. Your body and spirit should now be strong enough to take my true training. I will no longer put your life in danger, but I will make sure that your training is as tough as anything you’ve faced in the other worlds. You have my word on that.”

Sairai smiled and nodded, as he locked eyes with his master. “I look forward to it, but can I at least heal up a little first?”

Kami smiled and nodded. “Mr. Popo, see that our young guest gets plenty of rest and food until he has recuperated. When he has healed sufficiently, his training is to begin.”

“Yes, Kami,” Mr. Popo responded.

“I leave it to you for now. I need some rest, myself. I’ve had too much excitement lately.”

WC: 411
TWC: 5,218