Chapter 46: Surpass Your Master

The audience were finding things very difficult to follow at this point in the fight. Everything was going so much faster, and the power being exerted was on another level. Every clash would send pulses of energy through the air, but the two fighters were still holding back, somehow. Noca was the one going on the offensive at this point. He had to make sure Vegeta knew he intended to show off his power, he just wanted to ease into it. Leave something to the imagination, but Vegeta wanted a challenge.

Noca soared towards Vegeta in the air and attempted to punch him in the face. Vegeta threw up a block, Noca pulled back his arm and swung around to land a strong kick, which Vegeta managed to block too. The power in the kick did push the Prince back and Noca followed in with two quick punches. Left then right but he was hitting against the block. The young Saiyan then hammered his fists down on the block and Vegeta broke his defence, and it caused Noca's hands to rise above his head, giving a new opening.

Vegeta took his chance quickly and punched Noca in the gut with his right, then he pulled back the same arm and smashed in an uppercut, then phased above Noca and kicked him back down towards the towers. Noca crashed down onto one of the smaller towers, going right through it and falling towards the ground. Noca power out his aura to stop himself and yelled as he shot back up to Vegeta again. The Prince cracked his neck and flew down to meet his opponent. They clashed together, their hands interlocking with the strong energy output rattling the stadium. There were sparks around their hands as the two poured power in.

They pulled closer to each other and Noca pulled his head back and smashed it against Vegeta's face, but as the Prince's head went back, he swung it forward himself, sending his head smashing into Noca's face. His head appeared to be harder as it caused Noca to break the grip, but he regained his focus right away and shot back towards Vegeta. The Prince moved out of the way as Noca shot past him and turned back to smash a left punch down, but Vegeta blocked with his right arm, pushing Noca's arm out of the way and giving himself a new opening. Vegeta shot in a left jab, but it was caught by Noca's right hand, but it was right near his chest. Noca struggled to pull Vegeta's arm out of the way and lifted up his right leg, kicking Vegeta in the gut and using it to bounce away.

Noca flipped and steadied out but Vegeta instantly flashed towards him and smashed right through one of the towers and slammed Noca against the side of another one. Noca was caught around the throat and held back. Vegeta had his left hand around Noca's neck, and he smashed his free hand into Noca's gut. Noca struggled to cough and let a gurgled sound out of his throat. The saliva that came up dribbled down Noca's face. Noca saw the tower that they had smashed through crumble down. Vegeta pushed back and tightened his grip, Noca was struggling to breathe. Vegeta smashed another fist into his gut.

"What are you going to do to break out of this one, boy?" Vegeta questioned, a sinister tone in his voice. Noca clenched his fists, he knew he had a free shot, but Vegeta's grip was tight he had to make sure he could actually break out of the grip, not just get a hit in. "Well?"

Noca closed his eyes and his energy flared up, shining gold and blinding Vegeta slightly, but he didn't release any strength over his grip. Noca knew Vegeta was stubborn enough to take this, so he did it. Noca released his energy, and an explosion engulfed both of them. It wasn't too big, but the tower they were by was blasted to bits. Vegeta was thrown back by the explosion and slammed against another tower. As he looked up, he noticed another chunk of tower coming towards him at a great pace. Vegeta had to use his speed to flash out of the way. He soared up and watched the bit of tower crash into the other and cause it to collapse.

Noca appeared right in front of Vegeta, smashing a left footed kick against his face and followed around, elbowing the Prince in the face and then he grabbed the front of his clothing with his left hand and smashed a strong right jab into Vegeta's face, knocking him towards the towers. Vegeta landed down on one of them, managing to stay on his feet. He looked up as Noca phased to the top of another tower, opposite Vegeta.

"That's what I'm going to do," Noca said, arrogantly with a little smirk. Vegeta huffed and cracked his neck, standing up straight and folding his arms. Vegeta closed his eyes and stood silently for a few seconds. Noca braced himself, not using his initiative and going for the attack. Vegeta's eyes snapped open and his aura flared up again, wider and more powerful than before. He was utilising the full power of the form, Noca realised that. The tower cracked under the pressure of Vegeta's power.

Vegeta phased right in front of Noca and it seemed as everything slowed down. Noca stepped back, but he was already on a rather narrow tower, so his foot was right on the edge. He moved his arms forward, ready to block whatever was coming, but his footing was off, and he slipped slightly and Vegeta had his chance. The Prince smashed a fist deep into Noca's gut, pulled back and then smashed another against Noca's head, the young Saiyan was propelled from the tower, sent soaring towards another. He smashed into it, staying embedded into the side. Vegeta took a stance from the tower he was on and stood facing Noca. He raised his left hand to the side of his head, and then raised his right hand to meet it. Noca looked up and saw what Vegeta was doing and anticipated what he was planning.

The purple energy started to gather around Vegeta's hand as he drew his Ki to that spot. Noca recognised the attack and knew he had to counter it with something. Noca broke out of the tower but as he did, Vegeta fired. He couldn't just avoid the blast and let it hit the ground, it would cause too much damage, but he couldn't power up a blast in that time to push it back. He powered up as much as he could in that moment, getting close to his maximum as a Super Saiyan and he put his hands forward, catching Vegeta's attack and pushing back against it. The blast was powerful enough that it smashed Noca back through the tower, all the while the young Saiyan was still holding his hands against it. Noca knew he was getting closer to the ground, but there was nothing he could do at that moment.

He kept pushing back with all the might he could muster in that small moment. It wasn't enough, but it had to be. Noca told himself that because of the position he put himself in if he didn't stop this blast, he would lose the fight, and this was not how he planned for the fight to end. Noca started yelling as he pushed back more and more.

The audience were far more intrigued by this fight than almost all of the ones that had come prior and their attentions were gripped. Nobody wanted to look away. The family and friends up in the audience knew this was just par for the course with these fighters, but it was still an enjoyable session nonetheless. Gohan, for one, was extremely pleased with how much power Noca still had in reserve and he had only just scratched the surface in their fight. Gohan also knew that Vegeta was a very powerful fighter and was never going to make it easy. It was entertaining.

In the waiting area, there were less enthusiastic people, but they were still entertained. Sofia kept an eye on Noca, a close eye. While Joji and Yaiko watched on. Yaiko was intrigued but did his best to hide it. Uub was watching, but he didn't appear to have any feelings on the fight. Torai was blown away by what he was witnessing and knew he really had it tough if he was going to prove himself here. Holline and Pan however, they appeared to be a little concerned for Noca, even though they knew he was fully capable of winning a fight like this. They were just caught up in the moment. Pan held her hand close to heart.

"Come on Noca… don't let this beat you," Pan muttered to herself. Closing her eyes.

Noca grit his teeth as he kept pushing back, but then he released a deep breath and closed his eyes. He focussed inward and thought to himself about the situation. Deep inside of him he heard something yelling for him to do it. To take his power and push back that attack. A familiar voice. A familiar love. Noca opened his eyes a slight smirk on his face. He noticed the smile and shook it off, refocussing and yelling again as his aura grew and sparked, even though he didn't quite go Super Saiyan 2. He pushed up, but only managed to hold the energy back. He didn't quite have a way out of it yet, but something would deal with it.

While pushing up, Noca started to think and mutter to himself.

"Kame-Hame," Noca started, and then with one final push, "HA!" He screamed it and the blue energy exploded from his hands and pushed up on Vegeta's attack. The blast definitely started to shift the control of the situation and Vegeta noticed. He knew something like this would happen, and he was happy about it. The energy being poured out by both fighters was astounding and it definitely put on a good show, but Vegeta wasn't about the show, he was about the fight. He pushed on his own attack one last time releasing it and the two lots of energy met together in the middle and exploded, dissipating rather quickly. Noca rushed to a tower so he could actually set his feet down on something and his aura fell away as he dropped to one knee, he was still a Super Saiyan though. Vegeta landed on another tower and stood straight, his arms folded.

"Good response, but you wasted too much energy," Vegeta mentioned. Noca looked up with a slight scowl.

"I still have lots of energy," Noca snapped.

"No, you have lots of power, but your stamina appears to be quite depleted, maybe you need to drop out now and rest up," Vegeta mentioned turning his back and closing his eyes. Noca grunted and shot from his spot. He attempted to smash a fist against the back of Vegeta's head, but the Prince turned, avoiding the fist and smashed his own punch into Noca's chest, winding him. Noca coughed and fell to a knee again. "See."

Noca looked up, still glaring at the Prince.

"I'm want you to prove me wrong. Win."

Noca looked down and regained his breath and slowly stood up, coming face to face with Vegeta. Well, as face to face as he could, Noca was slightly taller at this point, but not by a significant amount. Noca's breathing was still quite heavy. Vegeta closed his eyes again and kicked out, sending Noca crashing back onto the top of another tower.

"I'll give you ten seconds to prepare," Vegeta told him. Noca's brow furrowed, but he knew he had to make the most of those ten seconds. He stood up, took a deep breath, but let out a cough. The ten seconds had passed and Vegeta's eyes snapped open as he flashed Super Saiyan 2 with his aura disappearing and the sparks starting to shake around his body and he then phased over to Noca.

There was a reaction in the audience as Gohan stood up from his seat, looking out of the glass from the executive box. "That's Super Saiyan 2, but it's… different."

Vegeta flashed in front of Noca and kicked the young Saiyan in the chest, sending him flying across the arena space, crashing through a couple of towers and bouncing against another one. Noca bounced forward, but Vegeta flashed in front of him again and slammed a strong right hook across his face, throwing Noca in the opposite direction. Vegeta phased below Noca and hit hard, sending the young Saiyan flying up into the air. Vegeta flew up to meet Noca but moved up above him and turned around to face him again. The Prince slammed his fists down, hard, and sent Noca crashing down again. Noca landed on a tower, bouncing up, but Vegeta phased to meet him and kicked him right through. Noca was knocked down fast, but Vegeta kicked him across making sure he wouldn't have a ring out just yet.

Noca smashed into another tower, and it cracked, with Noca once again embedded in the side. Noca looked up as Vegeta slowly moved in front of him.

"Want me to give you another chance to get into this fight, or shall I proceed to beat you within an inch of your life?" Vegeta said, starting to sound villainous. Noca looked up at him and could barely keep his eyes focussed. His head was pounding and the cut on his nose was still bleeding. Noca didn't say anything so Vegeta closed his eyes and huffed. "Fine."

As soon as he opened his eyes he punched forward, smashing Noca through the tower, he then phased through to the other side catching Noca by the scruff of his neck with his right hand and he pounded two strong left jabs into his head. He then threw the young Saiyan up into the air and sent a barrage of strong energy blasts up towards Noca. All of the blasts homed in on Noca and crashed against him, exploding upon impact. Vegeta stopped shooting the blasts and flew up towards the large smoke cloud. He flew up out of the cloud with Noca ahead of him, but Vegeta was punching again and again, gaining more height. He then moved past Noca and slammed his left elbow back down onto Noca's back.

As the young Saiyan was about to shoot down towards the ground Vegeta grabbed onto the back of his Gi and lifted him up. Vegeta slammed his knee into Noca's gut about three of four times, and then lifted Noca up higher and slammed a strong punch against his face, throwing Noca across the sky. The Prince phased to meet Noca and caught him by the throat with his left hand. Vegeta unleashed two strong right jabs into Noca's face as blood started dripping from his nose at his point. Noca could barely keep one of his eyes open and he was losing focus. Vegeta was winning. He looked at Noca for a second and then sighed as he let go and performed a round house kick, striking with his left foot and throwing Noca out of the sky, down towards the ground.

Noca landed on a tower, on his back, looking up as Vegeta came soaring back down towards the arena. He was about to strike a powerful and possibly match ending blow against Noca, but at the last second Noca vanished. Vegeta had to throw on the brakes and landed on the tower with a thud, but he was fine. He looked around trying to spot Noca but sensed him and turned around to see Noca standing on one of the highest towers. He appeared to be in pain, and breathing a little raggedly, but he was ok to carry on, seemingly out of nowhere.

"I just needed some time to regain that lost stamina," Noca said, smirking. "You may have caused some damage, but it was all I needed."

Noca closed his eyes and focussed as his energy rose higher and his aura flared for a second before flashing and leaving him standing there without the aura, but still with that golden glow and blue sparks. This time all of his hair was standing up signalling that he was in fact a Super Saiyan 2, but also a different version. This caught Gohan's attention again.

"Noca too?" Gohan questioned to himself.

Noca started punching and kicking the air. His speed had increased a whole lot and he looked on par with Vegeta this time. The Prince huffed and folded his arms. He was impressed to see Noca at this point, but he wouldn't show it. Noca cracked his neck and looked back towards Vegeta.

"Ready to keep going?" Noca questioned, just trying to aggravate the Prince now. "Or do you need ten seconds?"

Noca instantly phased and flew all the way over to Vegeta, spinning through the air and proceeding to try and land a punch down on Vegeta. The Prince blocked the attack and Noca backed off and tried to swing with left leg in Vegeta's side, but he held up his right arm to block it and then attempted to swing his left arm around into a punch, but Noca phased. He appeared behind Vegeta and attempted a right jab, but now it was the Prince's time to phase again and avoid the punch.

Vegeta appeared right in front of Noca and attempted to smash a right jab into Noca's face, but the young Saiyan threw both his arms up to block the attack. Vegeta then attempted to perform a left-handed uppercut, but Noca caught it and lifted his arm up above their heads and then kicked out, knocking Vegeta back. Before he could make another move Noca had already flown in and slammed a strong right hook against Vegeta's face. Noca then spun around and used both his feet to kick out, throwing Vegeta back across the arena slamming through one of towers.

The Prince instantly flew back out towards Noca at a blistering pace and smashed a strong punch against Noca's face. The young Saiyan was thrown away, but he hit against a tower and instantly bounced back towards Vegeta, but Vegeta phased out of the way and reappeared a bit higher up. Noca kept going and hit another tower but redirected himself so he bounced up towards Vegeta. The Prince didn't expect that and Noca came very close to landing a strong right jab in Vegeta's face, but he managed to move his head out of the way, and the fist went narrowly passed his cheek.

Vegeta reacted impulsively and kicked out but Noca caught it with ease and swung Vegeta around, throwing him down onto a tower surface. Noca shot towards that tower too and tried slam a strong attack into the prince, but Vegeta narrowly jumped out of the way, with Noca smashing through the tower. The whole stage had almost been destroyed at this point. Noca exploded towards Vegeta again and started throwing a lot of rapid punches and kicks, but Vegeta was equal to them. He blocked a lot of them and also started throwing his own punches and kicks in return and the two were locked in this repetitive action, exerting a lot of power and raising higher and higher into the sky.

The clashes continued all the way up with shock waves of energy pulsing through the sky and rattling the arena. Both Saiyan combatants were putting their all into this fight as their powers continued to rise in their Full Powered Super Saiyan 2 forms. The sparks around their bodies increased and blinded the audience. The fight was reaching breaking point and one of these two was going to lose very soon.

There was a break in the clash and both fighters backed away from each other high in the air. They left the distance open and both powered up reaching their limits and once they made it to their maximum output of energy both shot towards each other one last time. Clashing together more shock waves exploded through the sky and there was an even bigger explosion of energy as both Saiyans were thrown from the sky towards the stadium and what was left of those towers. Neither looked to have control as many people in the audience stood up to make sure they didn't miss what was about to happen.

The ground approached fast for those two Saiyans. Noca hit one of the larger towers, landing flat on the surface, but Vegeta hit one of the small towers causing his body to spin away towards the ground. He landed. The whole arena fell silent as the audience looked between Noca and Vegeta slowly realising that Vegeta was out, and that meant Noca won the fight. Soon enough the audience started clapping and cheering and the announcer ran out to confirm it.

"There you have it folks! The first match of this quarter-final round goes to Noca!"

Noca slowly pushed himself up, realising he had dropped back to his base form and he looked around to try and spot Vegeta. The Prince had already stood up and was walking towards the waiting area. Noca jumped down and rushed to catch up with him.

"Good fight, right?" Noca said, almost questioning. He wanted to know what Vegeta thought about it, he wanted to know if he had pleased the Prince.

"It was a challenge, but you could have made it easier for yourself," Vegeta replied. He stopped just before the waiting area and turned to face Noca, a smirk coming across his face. "But you did win, now you go forward and prove yourself further."

Noca nodded as the two of them entered the waiting area. Almost everyone else looked at them but Pan and Holline rushed over to Noca straight away to congratulate him. Vegeta walked on towards the waiting area exit but was met by Gohan.

"You managed to achieve a new form?" Gohan questioned. Vegeta scoffed.

"Not exactly, it's Super Saiyan 2, but a newer version. A Full Powered version. Similar to what you and Kakarot managed to achieve with Super Saiyan in the Room of Spirit and Time before fighting Cell," Vegeta confirmed as he and Gohan went on to talk more.

Noca, Pan, and Holline continued to chat while the arena was set-up. Pan noticed the cut on Noca's nose and also the blood that was on his face, that wasn't hard to ignore. She looked around and grabbed some tissue and a water bottle and started to dab at Noca's face. Noca raised a hand to get her to stop.

"I'm fine," He said, but this effort fell on deaf ears as Pan continued to try and clean up her boyfriend. Holline shook her head and smirked. Noca chuckled a little and grabbed Pan's hand, "I said I'm fine."

"I know you are, but you were bleeding," Pan said, sounding just a little worried, but again, it earned a chuckle from both Noca and Holline. Noca hugged her and kissed her on the head.

"Yep, but I'm all good," Noca assured her, she hugged back briefly before they both broke it.

"That was a great fight Noca," Holline spoke up, "I enjoyed it, you really got a lot stronger."

Noca smirked and laughed a little nervously, trying to act humble, but failing.

"It really is all thanks to Vegeta, you know?" Noca said, smirking. "He put me through a lot of tough training and some of the things we came across out there really, you know, made me want to prove myself and advance further than before."

"I definitely noticed it with that transformation," Pan said, her brow furrowed. Noca looked at her and his brow furrowed to mirror hers. He smirked again slowly. "Was that Super Saiyan 2?"

"Well… yeah, kinda," Noca answered, stumbling over his words, "It's… hard to explain but, you know how Super Saiyan can go full powered and then you can increase the power of the form that way?"

Noca asked this question and looked at both Pan and Holline, but neither of them understood his wording and it was lost on them, just a little.

"Well, that but… Super Saiyan 2, if you know what I mean?" Noca asked as he held his hands out as if he needed some help from someone. Both Holline and Pan looked each other and back to Noca. Noca laughed awkwardly as the two girls looked at him as if he was a moron. That was when the 5-minute announcement from the announcer came from the PA system. It was nearly time for Pan's fight.

The quarter-Saiyan young woman took a breath and looked over to her opponent. Noca followed her gaze and saw Sofia cracking her knuckles and walking towards the door. Noca looked back to her allies while Pan's eyes stayed on Sofia. Joji sat down in a relaxed way and laughed to himself.

"Knock it out of the park, Sofia!" He yelled out to her. He then looked to Pan and continued to laugh. Noca's eyes narrowed at that, but then he looked to the awkward Yaiko. He had his hands in his pockets, still with his headphones on and looked up when Sofia started to walk away, his eyes followed her as she walked to the door, he didn't say anything. Noca looked back to Pan.

"You know you'll need to be at your best for this fight," Noca said, making sure Pan was ready for her fight with Sofia. "She will be a tough opponent, but I believe in you."

"I'll be fine, you don't need to worry," Pan said, almost offended.

"I'm not worried, I'm just telling you to be wary, she might be tough, but you have a well of strength and potential, and I know you'll pull through it," Noca clarified, not wanting to annoy Pan before her fight. He put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye. "Don't hold back out there."

Pan smiled and nodded. Stepping forward ready for her fight with this mysterious girl. Sofia didn't turn to look at Pan or anything, she just kept her gaze focussed forward. Pan made no effort to talk to this young woman, she wanted to remain concentrated.

Noca watched and took a deep breath.

"Good luck, Pan."

Hope you liked the conlcusion to that fight with Vegeta! Next time we get to see Pan's fight, and it is one that I enjoyed writing.

Next Time... Chapter 47: The Grand-Daughter of Mr. Satan