Chapter 51: Noca vs. Sofia – Part Two

Sofia jumped for Noca, aiming to strike down with her foot but Noca moved to the side, watching his footing with the panels. This meant Sofia landed down in front of him, but she followed it up by swiping a left hook towards his gut which Noca was able to pull back from easily. Sofia then attempted to swipe his legs out and again Noca dodged with ease, jumping over the leg and over Sofia's head. She turned around in time to attempt a rapid one-two but Noca blocked them both with his right forearm but had to pull away from the next attempted uppercut. Sofia had created her new opening and thrust a jab towards Noca's gut, and it was another one he could avoid, gaining enough speed to phase behind her.

The young woman growled as she swung her arm around, hoping to catch Noca in the head but he ducked under, dropping into a roll and moving past her again. She turned again and tried to kick out at him but lost balance and stepped back, hitting one of the changing panels, causing the ground to open a little. She panicked and jumped away, landing safely, only for Noca to phase behind her again. She felt the energy instantly and turned aiming another punch for his face. Noca caught her wrist and pushed her back with a small pulse of energy. Sofia lost balance but composed herself very quickly and darted towards him again. She went for a barrage of punches towards his face which Noca blocked by raising both arms and he started to back up, hovering across the stage. Sofia continued with a barrage of punches but Noca was managing to defend against all of them without breaking a sweat.

Sofia was beginning to get faster with each move, confirming Noca's theory that she would improve and adapt as the fight went on. But in his head, he was sure there would be a limit at some point, and that excited his Saiyan side. He wanted to see just how far she could go before reaching her limit. She hit a couple of strong punches against Noca's forearm and then with a third managed to knock his left arm to the side and followed with a strong right hook, smacking him in the cheek. Noca felt that and his momentum was halted, abruptly. He turned back towards Sofia, but she quickly moved in and punched him in the ribs and then kicked him in the gut, knocking him back.

Her power had increased and Noca was starting to feel some pain. She darted towards him, jumping up with an uppercut and then spun around kicking him in the throat and dropped down. She swiped his legs out from under him and punched him up into the air, flying up and over him and kicked him back down into the stage. Noca hit a panel that turned into a tower and he was sent back towards Sofia. She dropped down with a foot into his gut as the tower rose to meet her. She then jumped back up and dropped down, and elbow into his gut this time. The tower retreated back into the stage and Noca was back to his feet only for Sofia to dart in front of him and thrust both hands forward, knocking him off of his feet with a pulse of energy and towards the edge of the arena. Noca slid across the ground and stopped not far from the edge.

He took a deep breath and went to get up but the panels in the ground opened up and he fell through. Sofia smirked but Noca immediately shot back up and landed on the stage. He glared towards her and blasted forward. The young woman was surprised by Noca's sudden attempt and intensity and threw her hands forward again, shooting out an energy blast this time. Noca was pushing through it but was caught and shot back again. He managed to regain his control and push past the energy, he flew along the blast towards Sofia and upon meeting her he punched her in the face lifting her off the ground and then he jumped up, using a pulse of energy to push her into the stage and then landed on the other side.

Noca had stopped and seemed to give Sofia a chance to get back to her feet. She stood slowly and shook off Noca's attacks. In that moment, Sofia seemed to have taken the advantage and Noca had come out that situation worse off. Maybe he was taking it too easy and would really need to take a step up. But now his pride was telling him he didn't need to and that he was more than capable of winning in this current situation.

Sofia didn't waste time and rushed back to Noca. She lifted off of the ground and flew towards him. Noca was ready to defend whatever came his way, deciding to take more time to learn as much as he could. Sofia smashed her fist down onto a forearm block by Noca. The impact from the hit put pressure on the Saiyan and managed to push him down. Sofia moved slightly and swung her leg forward kicking Noca's arm up, creating an opening. Sofia followed the momentum of her leg and flipped around until she was facing forward again and dropped towards Noca. She smashed a left hook against his face and spun around to kick him in the back of the head.

Noca was knocked forward and put his hands out to stop himself and flipped back to his feet. He turned around as Sofia charged in again, smashing an elbow against his face and then punched him in the gut. As Noca bent over Sofia dropped back and kicked up into his face and dropped back to her feet, thrusting her hands forward and knocking Noca off of his feet with a small Ki blast. Noca flipped up into the air and stopped himself as Sofia charged up again. She went for an uppercut that Noca backed away from and then Sofia followed up by swinging her leg around to catch a roundhouse kick into his stomach but Noca avoided that too.

The Saiyan then reached out and grabbed her leg but as he did, she swung the other one around and kick him in the head. Noca reacted to this by swinging her around and launching her towards the ground at a pace. Sofia pulsed out her energy at the last second and blasted back towards Noca, going in with a barrage of punches for his face. Noca blocked them all but she was putting an immense amount of pressure on him and forcing him up further. She was angry though. Noca wasn't giving it his all, he hadn't even gone Super Saiyan, so she had to keep pushing him.

Sofia finally backed off from the punching barrage and blasted in towards the Saiyan again. She went to hammer her fists down on his head and Noca lifted one arm up to block that. He did so, then Sofia went to knee him in the face and Noca blocked with the other arm. Sofia then kicked out with her free leg and caught Noca in the gut, just slightly. She then pulled her arms away quickly and thrust her hands into his face, releasing another small Ki blasts. It temporarily blinded Noca and Sofia backed away and flew around to the other side of Noca.

He quickly cleared his vision and turned around to see that she was firing in a lot of energy blasts. They crashed down on Noca, but they weren't causing much damage, not least because Noca had managed to raise his aura so to shield himself, but also because there was more to this plan. Sofia blasted down after her Ki attacks and once the final one had hit she was right in front of Noca and powered a strong fist into Noca's gut, retracted it then fired it up into his face with another uppercut before finally kicking him down into the stage again with both feet.

Noca was rolling through the air back towards the stage and landed down on both feet, managing to avoid any changing panels. He looked up as Sofia had created a larger Ki blast and fired it down towards the Saiyan. It was rushed so there wasn't much power in it but Noca didn't want to get hit by that either way. Noca dodged to the side as it crashed down but sensed something else. He turned back as there was another blast right in front of him. It exploded in front of him and Noca was thrown off of the stage.

Once the smoke cleared, only lingering for a few seconds, Sofia noticed Noca wasn't there. She wasn't so naïve as to rule this as a win just yet. She waited and kept her focus to make sure she knew where he would come up from. However, she wasn't prepared as Noca phased behind her. Sofia heard it and turned around as Noca thrust a blast towards her. She quickly swung an arm at it and managed to knock it back towards Noca. He avoided it as she charged back towards him and grabbed his arm, flew around him, holding his arm and threw him down towards the stage. Noca let himself fall and land on his feet, easily. He was just fine. Sofia powered a small light blue aura around her and fired back in for an attack. Noca simply put his arms up and held Sofia back, levelling the playing field.

Sofia's progression had finally taken a hit and it seemed Noca was coming into this fight. He felt he had gathered quite a bit of information and could finally notice that she was improving as time went on, but there was bound to be a ceiling. Noca held point but felt a bit more pressure as Sofia's aura flared up more. Noca could feel her power continue to rise and knew that if he didn't act, he could let this slip. He pushed back, levelling his own power with hers and even though he had not reached his limit in this base form he couldn't waste time. He flashed Super Saiyan and finally took the advantage, throwing her back across the stage. She landed on one of the tower panels as it rose up with her. She remained in the air once the tower started to retract and looked down on Noca as a Super Saiyan. He smirked as his aura burst out and he too ascended to be level with his opponent.

"I may have underestimated you for most of this fight," Noca said as his smirk faded, and he returned to his focussed state. Sofia scoffed.

"Don't worry, I'm not done yet," She said, arrogantly. "And neither are you."

That was obvious. She had already watched Noca through this tournament and he had showcased his intense ability and strength, but this was proving to the be the kind of challenge that Sofia was looking for. A chance to show just what she was capable of. Especially up against Noca. She was secretly excited at the fact that she came up against this Saiyan rather than Joji. She knew he would have rather it been the other way around. Now Sofia just needed to ensure she ended Noca's tournament so that Joji missed out on the chance to fight him here in front of everyone.

While Sofia remained deep in thought Noca took the chance to showcase his power increase in this form. He blasted towards her and went for a straight jab. Sofia moved out of the way slightly but Noca had the edge on her in terms of speed. He spun around and kicked her down towards the stage. Sofia rolled through the air and Noca flew down with an attempt to kick her up into the air again. She managed to regain her control and stopped before Noca's leg, managing to twist just past it. She landed on the ground and rolled just as a tower shot up between the two.

Sofia stood up as Noca phased next to her and kicked her into the tower. She whacked into it and fell back. She pushed off of the ground just as Noca punched down. She flipped away but Noca phased towards her again and caught her by the arm and flung her up into the air. He phased up to her again, but she stopped in time to block Noca's fists as they came hammering down. She had to block with her arms and gave Noca the opening to use his knee. It went cracking into her nose and Sofia felt the blood drip as she was pushed back. She looked up as Noca thrust forward again and smacked a right hook across her face. Sofia dropped down to a knee and put a hand down on the ground. The blood dripped and she growled, standing up as Noca threw a punch at her.

The young woman caught the fist, surprising Noca. She stood up, still holding onto the Saiyan's fist and glaring into his eyes. Noca wasn't intimidated and was interested to see that she still had more power to showcase. Noca brought his arm back to his side, Sofia's hand still clutching to his fist, and then he went to smack down his left hand on her. Sofia raised her right arm to hold back Noca's arm and then she let go of Noca's other hand and thrust her left hand into his gut and released a small Ki blast. The little detonation was enough to blast Noca back a few metres, giving both of them some room to manoeuvre and recalibrate for different ideas. Noca backed up, basically inviting Sofia to take him on.

She obliged, chasing after him. She jumped up, aiming her foot down on the Saiyan, but only struck the ground, immediately following up by swiping her left fist, and missing. Then she attempted the same thing with her right and missed. Noca continued to back up, making sure he was always just out of reach. Sofia kicked up, hoping that she had extended enough to catch his face, but it was a very narrow miss. She persisted, moving on with an attempted barrage of punches. Again, Noca was still just a little bit ahead of it. The Saiyan decided to make another move. He caught both of her fists and pulled her towards him. He smashed his head into her face and then kicked her back.

Sofia lifted off of the ground and rolled, managing to steady herself in the air. Only for Noca to fly up right in front of her and succeed by managing to hammer his fists down on her. She was lucky to stop herself from hitting the ground and hovered across it as Noca descended. Sofia was quick to move away, letting Noca hit nothing and then she blasted into his left. She attempted to kick him in the head but Noca raised an arm and blocked it, instantly phasing after. He reappeared behind Sofia and performed the exact move she had attempted, kicking her in the head. Sofia was knocked down in the ground as the panels opened up and she fell through, managing to stop herself and fly around to be above the stage again. Noca stopped and looked up as Sofia fired herself towards him, shooting a barrage of Ki blasts down at the same time.

The blasts struck the stage all around Noca with only one coming within close proximity to the Saiyan. Noca stood there nonchalantly and easily swatted that blast away, only for Sofia to shoot right up to him. Noca was equal to it and moved into a defensive pose as Sofia struck. There was a small shock wave as they connected but Sofia was knocked back by the impact and strength of Noca's defensive block. She bounced back down on the stage and rolled back, getting back to her feet but she couldn't move into another attack right away. That had tired her out a little bit.

Noca stood up straight and chuckled lightly.

"Perhaps I should give you a chance to bring yourself back into this?" He muttered in a questioning tone. It wasn't really directed towards Sofia. He was wondering to himself, out loud. Sofia grit her teeth together and clenched her fists. Noca smirked. "Take all the time you need. I'll be standing here."

Noca was being arrogant. This was his Saiyan instinct taking control of him again. It was telling him to give her a chance to prove she can be a challenge. Noca was still looking for a reason to enjoy the fight. He was willing to let Sofia get herself back into this and nothing inside his head was telling him that this could be a slightly bad idea. Logic was going out of the window.

Sofia stood there as her breathing started to return to normal, and she was no longer aching all over. Sure, she was still hurting a little bit, in places. Specifically, her nose, but now she was ready to get back into this fight. She closed her eyes and began to hop on the spot. Noca crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, still smirking, clearly amused by his opponent. Once Sofia stopped hopping, she cracked her neck and opened her eyes. Serious and focussed, she blasted forward. Noca unfolded his arms in time to put his hands out and stop Sofia by grabbing her shoulders and holding her back. Sofia had her hands forward, so they were in a similar position to Noca's. The two were locked in that clash. Sofia swung her leg back, losing some of the strength she was putting out with her arms, but that helped.

Noca moved over her a little bit, getting the upper-body advantage, but Sofia created a new opening for herself and kicked up, catching Noca in the gut. The Saiyan reacted by pulling forward and planting his knee in Sofia's gut. Their clash had broken, and both stepped back and blasted towards each other again. Noca went for a right jab and Sofia slid underneath it, going past Noca and grabbing his leg on the way. The Saiyan fell forward, planting one hand on the ground and kicking back, just about hitting Sofia in the face. She fell back as Noca spun around and jumped back to his feet. She turned just as Noca darted in with another right jab.

She arched backwards to avoid it and bent back forward, remaining crouched and then bounced, fists forward, smashing into Noca's gut and lifting him off of the ground. Noca rolled up into the air as Sofia dropped back to the ground and jumped back up towards Noca. She smashed a right hook across his face and then brought the same hand back across his face, backhanding him. She followed it up by spinning and kicking him in his right side. Noca dropped his arm around her leg, keeping it against his side and then spun and threw her through the air. He blasted after her, remaining above her and attempted to perform an over-head kick but she phased away.

Sofia appeared right in front of Noca, cracking a knee against his face and grabbed his head after, using her momentum as the flipped over him and threw him through the air, down towards the stage. Noca crashed down but got back up to his feet immediately and powered up his aura a large amount. He yelled and charged back towards her, getting very annoyed.

Noca punched as he flew up, narrowly missing Sofia as she backed away. The Saiyan levelled himself and thrust towards her again with a right jab, putting his whole body behind it. Sofia dodged to her left, avoiding another attack. Noca growled as he spun back, trying to catch Sofia with a left-footed round-house kick, but he missed again. Sofia ducked under it and threw an uppercut into the mix, hitting Noca in the chin. Noca backed up, shook it off, and darted forward again. That time, he hit Sofia in the face with a strong right jab and he followed it up with a left hook. He then grabbed her head and went to knee her in the face, but Sofia put her hands out to stop his knee. She powered up her Ki and blasted Noca off of her, creating space.

She charged right back in and went with a quick double right jab into his face, followed by a strong left hook and then a low right fist into Noca's gut. As he bent down slightly, she followed that with a knee in the face and then a right-handed uppercut. Creating her ideal opening she put her hand flat against Noca's torso and shot out a Ki blast. It pushed Noca back and then Sofia clicked her fingers for it to exploded. Noca was covered by a smoked cloud but Sofia knew where she was and rose above him. She dropped down with strong hammered fists into the top of his head, knocking him down. Noca spun and rolled through the air, landing flat on his stomach.

He quickly pushed up, trying to gather himself but noticed the panels light up and then open. He quickly went to move somewhere but suddenly felt an impact as Sofia grabbed onto him and charged through the stage, her arms around him. Noca could only look down as he saw the ground coming at him, fast. He had to do something to get himself out of the situation otherwise he was going to hit the ground first and lose the fight.

"No. Not like this," he thought to himself, flashing Super Saiyan 2 and blasting back up, crashing right through the stage even though none of the panels were open. He created his own opening, right in the middle. Once he knew he was safe he powered out his Aura, knocking Sofia off of him and they both landed on the stage. Noca, touching down lightly and dropping from Super Saiyan 2 back to regular Super Saiyan. Sofia hit the surface in a heap. The whole stage had started to flash, spark and light-up for a second before seemingly going completely dead. Did that mean the panels were broken. Noca touched the ground around him with his foot. Nothing happening. Meanwhile, Sofia got back to her feet. Noca looked right back towards her.

"You must know you won't finish me off that easily?" Noca said, confidently. Sofia was breathing heavily but managed to catch her breath and stretch her muscles quickly.

"Of course, but I had to try," She stretched her arms and looked back at Noca. "I think I'm enjoying this."

"I know I am, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you win," Noca responded, flashing back to Super Saiyan 2 and raising his Aura so it was roaring and sparking. Sofia cursed under her breath, knowing that Noca still had so much power hidden away. He flashed right in front of her, looking down on her, being just that little bit taller. She went to punch him in the chest but was nowhere near reacting in time. Noca simply powered out an explosive wave and knocked her off of her feet.

She flew back across the stage and slid right towards the edge. She slowly stood up but Noca phased right in front of her again. This time she could get an attack off but Noca avoided it by phasing, appearing next to her. Sofia swung her right arm around, hoping to hook him in the face. Noca ducked down and punched her in the gut with a jab, phasing afterwards. He appeared behind her, kicking her in the back of the knee so she dropped down. He then phased back in front of her and kicked her across the face with is right. She dropped down onto her side and struggled to even try and push herself up.

"You're… so fast…" She mumbled, slowly putting both hands down flat and pushing up, blood dripping down in front of her. She was really feeling the pain at that point.

"I know. It's why I didn't want to be in this form from the beginning, I would have won too quickly," Noca replied as he punched her in the back of the head. She was flattened on the stage again. She didn't give up trying to push back up though. More blood dripped down. She turned around, looking up at her opponent. Noca had a fierce rage in his eyes but Sofia couldn't place what had brought it on. To be honest, Noca didn't understand it either, but sense came back to him when he saw a large cut on the left side of Sofia's face, just next to her eye. There was a lot of blood.

Sofia noticed Noca's lapse of concentration as his aura retreated to a stable setting. She took the initiative and threw a blast up into his face. She rolled to the side and jumped up, throwing another blast towards Noca. That once caused him to step back to the edge of the ring and lose his balance. Sofia leapt forward and kicked him in the chest and watched him fall back. However, as soon as Noca's feet left the stage he phased and appeared behind her. She turned and went to punch him in the face. Noca caught her wrist and phased again. Both of them reappeared a few feet away from the grass. Sofia looked down, her wrist still in Noca's grip. She looked up slowly.

"Sorry," Noca uttered, sounding pretty genuine. He dropped back to his base form and let go of her. She dropped onto the grass. There was a pregnant pause and then a huge cheer as the crowd erupted into applause for Noca. The announcer leapt out of his commentary area as Noca landed down.

"And there we have it! Our first FINALIST!" He yelled, as the crowd continued to cheer for Noca.

While the announcer continued to play to the crowd Noca held out a hand for Sofia to take. She did so, even though reluctant to trust him. Noca helped her up and she stumbled slightly but he caught her.

"I got you," Noca muttered, trying to be friendly, but then she pushed him away.

"I don't need your help," She snapped. Noca stepped away, hands held up.

"Sorry," Noca said. Sofia glared at him and then started to walk away, towards the waiting area. Taking a hand and touching the wound next to her eye. It wasn't too bad by feeling it, but it did sting. Nothing she couldn't handle. She wasn't even 3 metres away from Noca when he spoke again. "I mean it."

She stopped, turning to look back at him. Noca was looking at the ground but glanced up and looked her in the eyes. At least, that's where she thought he was looking. Really it was her cut.

"I lost control for a minute there," Noca continued. Sofia turned away, not wanting to see his face. Not wanting to give him the benefit of any sort of personal connection.

"It doesn't matter. If you had been that serious from the start the fight wouldn't have lasted long," Sofia said this with a little contempt in her tone. "I would have preferred to lose quickly than be toyed with."

Noca wasn't sure what to say back. Even though he showed he was a Super Saiyan he wasn't sure she would even know what a Saiyan actually was and he wasn't about to explain everything to this stranger. He just felt bad for letting his arrogance in those forms take control, but now he felt even worse because she knew he wasn't taking it completely seriously. Noca tried to let it go and think about the final. The two said nothing more to each other as Sofia walked back into the waiting area. She glanced over at Joji and then motioned her eyes towards Uub. Joji just nodded, an amused smirk on his face. Sofia rolled her eyes and continued, leaving the waiting area and going to find Yaiko. Joji looked to the doorway as Noca walked through. The Saiyan didn't even pay Joji any attention and looked over to Uub.

Uub had his eyes closed and was in some sort of meditative state. Noca knew this because he could feel his power radiating through the room. There was a lot of tension there. Noca knew the next fight was basically a formality. Uub wasn't like the Saiyans. He wasn't about to waste time enjoying the fight. He wouldn't give Joji the chance to settle into it.

Speaking of Joji, he was slightly offended that Noca acted like he wasn't even there and stood up. As he did, Noca walked over to another bench and sat down, eating a Senzu bean. Joji clenched his fists and wanted to go over to Noca but then the announcers voice sounded out.

"We are now ready for the next fight! It will be Joji, coming up against Uub!"

Uub opened his eyes and stood up. He glanced over to Noca. The Saiyan nodded acknowledging what was coming. Uub looked away and walked to the doorway. Joji followed, glaring at Noca as he walked past him. This next fight was just a small step towards the inevitable final match, and Noca hoped nothing changed that. He needed to know what was going on in Uub's head.


Only two fights left to go! I really enjoyed writing this fight more than I first expected to. A lot of the character moments here came as I was writing it, and I like where it's going. Speaking of where it's going, the next chapter may be more than two weeks because I've become extremely busy with my job recently, as well as fracturing my hand making it harder for me to type as efficiently as I would like, but don't worry. I'll work hard and do my best to get the chapter out in two weeks and perhaps take a bit of a break before the final.

If all goes to plan, this Arc could come to an end in about two months. I'm not sure how many chapters are left to come, but it is at least three. Thanks for reading.

Next Time... Chapter 52: Joji vs. Uub