Interlude-Baba's Palace

The First two fights had been pretty easy for Yang. The vampire, Fangs, was a Muay Thai fighter, but not a particularly strong one. He relied mostly on his ability to suck blood in a clinch in order to defeat his opponents, as well as transforming into a bat to evade attacks. All it took was 1 good hit from Yang to send him into the water and pick up the victory. The second fighter, See-Through, was an invisible man who relied primarily on sneak attacks to defeat his opponents. He was so stealthy that he did not even cast a shadow. However, with the aid of Muten Roshi's Instinct Technique, Yang was eventually able to pinpoint the invisible man's position and knock him out with an elbow to the solar plexus.

The third fight had been marginally harder, as Yang had fought Spike the Devilman in an area known as the Devil's toilet. The Devil's toilet was a linear bridge suspended over a lake of acid, which left very little room for Yang to Dodge without going airborne and bouncing off of walls or statues. This made it harder for him to dodge the Devilmite Beam that Spike insisted on using, however, he managed by utilizing aerial attacks. Muten Roshi's warning was clear. Yang did not believe he was an evil man, but even a little evil could potentially cause the Devilmite Beam to incapacitate him enough for Spike to land a finishing blow. It was only after an aerial battle, Spike using his wings to try and close with the jumping Yang, only to catch several blows in the process, that saw Yang victorious.

Now the fighting moved into yet another arena a similar one to the one in which Yang fought the vampire and the invisible man. This time, his opponent was a large, bulky, green demon in a yellow singlet. Clearly this was Cabot the Troll, Baba Uranai was bringing out her big guns. Whereas Spike the Devilman had been weaker than Yang, dangerous because of the terrain and his secret technique, Yang could feel with his Ki Sense that Cabot was stronger than he was, even with his Improved Max Power, not by much, but by enough. As Baba watched on from her seat, hovering above the arena, Yang Immediately bulked up into his Improved Max Power State, gaining muscle mass and power, and engaged with his Insight Technique. The mind of a demon was strange, but with the combined sensory inputs of Muten Roshi's technique, Yang should be able to eke out a modicum of advantage in this fight. He would need every advantage he could get too.

As Baba called for the fight to begin, Cabot rushed Yang, attacking with a smashing blow that would have flattened him to the ground had it hit. Instead, Yang dodged the troll's hand, which left a palm-sized imprint in the arena tiles and circled around to his opponent's right to hammer in a pair of punches into the demon's side. Cabot grunted and struck out with his leg, the kick was barely ducked by Yang, who sprung up with a jumping knee as the troll used the momentum of his kick to face him, hammering his knee strike into Cabot's Solar Plexus. Instead of sending the troll, skidding backward, the blow only staggered his opponent, who returned the blow with a backhand that Yang was forced to block in mid-air as he came down from his jumping knee. The blow sent Yang skidding backward towards the edge of the arena and Yang barely avoided being rung out.

It seemed that Muten Roshi's warning about the troll being a physical powerhouse was correct. Yang was being forced to chip away at his opponent's stamina, whereas every blow Cabot landed was one that would be crushing to take head-on. For the first time in these matches, Yang was going to have to use an offensive technique. He gathered his ki around him, molding it into electricity, the voltage was higher than what he could have previously put out before Muten Roshi's training. His hands began to spark as a web of bolts of electricity formed. Cabot for his part was not content to stand there and let Yang charge up his technique and advanced on Yang warily. However, the troll's caution proved to be his undoing as Yang completed the technique and thrust out with his Palms, enveloping the troll in the web of electricity that formed the main part of the Thunder Shock Surprise.

As electricity coursed through the Body of Cabot, it took quite a bit out of the Demon. Yang paused for a moment, thinking that perhaps he had rendered his opponent unable to continue as the troll spasmed and kicked on the arena tiles. However, it seemed that Cabot was made of sterner stuff than to be put down by that, as he threw off his electric bindings simply by roaring and pumping himself up. However, with his ki sense, Yang could tell that the technique had taken a lot out of the troll. He was now quite a bit stronger than Cabot, who had used up much of his energy breaking out of the Thunder Shock Surprise. The rest seemed to be gathering in the Troll's legs and Yang braced himself for what technique the Troll might be seeking to pull off.

Soon enough, Cabot the Troll raised his right leg and stomped on the arena tiles, a fissure formed in the arena, racing towards Yang and throwing up tiles and bits of rock. Yang dodged out of the way of the fissure only to be hit by a flying piece of tile that cut into his cheek, leaving a line of red blood under his right eye. Much like the elbow from Muten Roshi during the semifinals of the Budokai, that too would scar eventually. Yang frowned at the thought of losing his youthful good looks bit by bit, but then found the situation grimly amusing as he stood up from being knocked down by the flying tile. He could still fight, but Cabot it seemed was on his last legs, huffing and puffing. Yang charged in, molding electricity into his hands as he was about to use what was rapidly becoming his signature technique.

"Lion's Shocking Charge!" He shouted as he hammered a pair of electrified palm thrusts into his opponent. One staggered Cabot, the other slid underneath a hasty backhand from the troll, and sent him to the ground, finally unconscious. In contrast to how long it had taken Yang to put down Cabot, even with Improved Max Power and Thunder Shock Surprise, his next opponent, a mummy, was something of a letdown. Bandages was quickly defeated by even the tired Yang, Damon the Hellstalker having refused Baba's summons after Cabot was taken out. Soon after, Baba officially inducted him as her apprentice.

His first task? Learning how to make her tea while she lectured him on the basics of molding mystic energy. . .

XXXX

Author's Note:

Power levels for this interlude only

228: Yang (Full Power)

120: Fangs the Vampire

130: See Through Invisible Man

190: Spike, the Devilman

342: Yang (Improved Max Power)

354: Cabot the Troll

360: Yang's Thunder Shock Surprise

220: Cabot (Escaped Thunder Shock Surprise)

290: Yang (Winded Improved Max Power)

300: Cabot's Stomp Technique

285: Yang's Shocking Lion's Charge

240: Yang (Start of Bandages fight)

175: Bandages the Mummy