Chapter Eleven - Meal Time
Recoome grinned as Hotaru charged him. Her orange aura pulsed and flared sending off sparks of orange, blue, and red as she flew. It only took her a moment to reach Recoome and start attacking. Her feet and fists flew as quickly as she could move them. Recoome merely twisted his body and tilted his head this way and that dodging all her attacks with the simplest of ease. "Hold still damn you!" she cried launching a hard kick for Recoome's head.
The large man raised his arm and blocked it with a loud crack. As his grin became a smirk he backhanded her with a thunderous crack. In a flash he charged after her but Sora shot up and came between them and resumed her assault against the large man. As Hotaru regained control of her flight and righted herself she saw Recoome easily dodging and blocking her mother's attempts at attacking him as well. As he blocked a punch aimed for his chest her senses felt Kavar's energy vanish. And then one after another the Ki's in the city began to go as well.
Her eyes widened in fear, sadness, and anger as she felt her people being massacred. A series of loud cracks brought her back to reality and she saw that Recoome had taken to the offensive and was beating Sora around like a ragdoll. "No..." she breathed, barely above a whisper. Her orange aura grew fainter and fainter, slowly fading away into nothing. Her orange irises began to swirl, glowing red symbols apearing within them. The red spread out filling her irises, and then turning her entire eyes red. And then her entire body began to glow red as her orange aura swirled to life around her again.
She threw her arms and head back and let out a scream of anger, sadness, and pain as her aura flared massively and hid her completely from view. Recoome stopped his attack on Sora and both fighters turned to look at Hotaru. Her aura swirled and shifted forming a swirling orange sphere around her. Red lines began to snake across it forming a pattern, some sort of symbol, and Sora's eyes widened in understanding. "The seal... she's breaking it!"
The symbol finished forming around her aura and began to glow a fierce red and slowly shifted to blue and then to white and then shattered sending sparks out about her. As the seal shattered her aura settled and she became visable once more. Hotaru's appearance had changed slightly, much like her mother's had. She had the same tiger like stripes under her eyes and her silver hair was tinted blue, but her eyes were a solid red giving her a far more imposing appearance. Her natural orange aura was still present but far thicker and brighter than before.
She tilted her head up slightly and gazed up at Recoome. The large man reached up and activated his scouter. It began to beep quickly is gauged her power. A moment later it beeped twice and displayed it's final reading, 1,241,936. Recoome frowned and then, with a flash charged down toward her. His fist met her outstretched arm with a loud crack and a bright red flash. He could see, at this close range, that her injuries had vanished.
Hotaru struggled slightly to hold back his fist as she glared at him. Her power still wasn't quite as high as his, but it was close enough that she could win. She released his fist, pulled back, and then launched a kick for his head. Recoome started to move but Hotaru's foot reached his head first and impacted with a loud crack that sent him sailing out over the lake. With a grin and a flash of orange she charged after him. Before he'd recovered from the blow, or the shock that it had actually hurt, Hotaru reached him and began pounding on him.
She put everything she had into each and every punch and kick as she drove him further and further away from the city. She went to land a kick to his chest but he finally recovered and deflected her foot away before pounding his fist into her stomach and doubling her over. Then he brought his knee up and slammed it into her face before punching her in the chest at a downward angle which sent her hurtling toward the ground. She slammed into the beach a moment later throwing sand everywhere before vanishing beneath it.
A second later she came surging back out again throwing the sand everywhere once more. She reached him and threw a hard right hook at his face which connected with a loud crack. He recovered faster this time and the two began to trade quick thunderous blows in the night sky. Sora watched for a moment in awe. This had never happened before, having two Tanarians with the ability to transform at the same time... And her daughter's power... She shook it off and then shot in toward the battle. She may not be able to do much, but she could at least give her daughter a hand.
She reached the two fighters and began her own attack against Recoome as well. The large alien managed to dodge or block most of Sora's attacks but doing so left him open to Hotaru's assault. He quickly began losing the edge he'd had over the past few hours of fighting. A sudden hard knee to her stomach doubled Sora over and then Recoome slammed his elbow into her back sending her plummeting down into the beach.
Hotaru took advantage of the opening in his defenses and slammed her foot into his head knocking him away again and charged after him. "It's time to put and end to this Recoome!" she cried as she charged toward him.
The large alien pulled to a stop and glared at her. "Fine by me! It's time you die!" He crossed his arms over his chest and let out a loud growl like sound. His aura flared up around him as the light in the area seemed to be pulled toward his body. "How about I show you the move I was about to use back on Namek?" he called laughing and pulling his legs up. "Recoome! Ultimate!"
"No you don't!" Hotaru yelled pouring on more speed, her orange aura flaring out larger as she charged him.
Recoome grinned as she neared. Just as she was about to reach him he threw his arms and head back and stretched his legs out again. "Bomber!" he cried. There was a thunderous crack and flash of white and then a massive explosion of Ki washed out in every direction for nearly a mile. The blast tore up the planet below them, churned the waters of the lake, and completely engulfed Hotaru.
Sora pulled herself back up out of the beach just in time to see the attack begin. As the wave of Ki reached out she caught a glimpse of Yamcha near-by. "Damn!" In a burst of orange she moved to where her unconcious son-in-law lay and put up a hasty Ki barrier as the energy reached them. For a moment she couldn't hear anything over the roar of the attack but then her daughter's screams reached her ears. However they weren't screams of pain but of determination. Focusing as best she could Sora looked up through the swirling energy and saw Hotaru still plowing head first through it toward Recoome, the energy lashing at her and shreading her clothes and cutting into her skin.
There was another loud crack as Hotaru's fist connected with Recoome's head sending the large man sailing backwards and ending his attack. Sora slumped to the ground tired and weak. She glowed and then reverted back to normal. "Come on Hotaru..." she said softly looking up into the sky. "You can do this." Her eyes were diverted from the battle a second later by a low groan. Turning she saw Yamcha starting to stir again.
She helped him sit up, her eyes glancing back up toward the battle every few seconds. After another groan the Human opened his eyes slowly. "Ugh... Sora?" He reached up and rubbed his head. "Is the fight over? Where's Hotaru?"
"It's not over yet." Sora said. "Hotaru's still fighting."
She looked off toward the battle again and Yamcha followed her line of sight. He couldn't see anything more than flashes and blurs of light. Then the cracks began sounding over the area as well which showed how far away the battle actually was. "How... her power..."
"She broke the seal." Sora explained. "She transformed."
Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and a resounding crack. A form streaked down through the sky and then slammed into the forest on the opposite side of the lake. Hotaru came floating down near the center of the lake a moment later panting heavily, blood still running down her arms. Both she and Recoome were worn from the fight, that much was obvious. Recoome had used up a lot of energy with his earlier attack and Hotaru had used up a lot getting through it.
Hotaru was about to move in when suddenly a volley of red-purple Ki blasts began surging out of the forest. She began dodging around the blasts which seemed to be coming out randomly and wildly. A moment later Recoome came charging up out of the forest as well, arms outstretched, energy blasts shooting forth at random. She charged down toward him dodging blasts as she went. She was almost on him when he opened his mouth and fired a stream of energy that completely engulfed her.
Suddenly Hotaru came charging up from below him and slammed her outstretched arms into his stomach. Recoome's attacks came to a stop and as the energy stream faded, so did her after image. The large alien's eyes bulged out of his head as she drove him up a few hundred feet into the air before flipping out from under him and launching up above him. "Inryoku Chikara!" she called thrusting her arms down. There was a crack as the blast slammed into Recoome's back and then drove him down into the forest once more.
"What's that power?" Yamcha wondered turning to look to the west.
Sora followed his gaze and soon sensed the power as well. "Oh no... he must have been woken by the battle... I have to keep him away from the fight, he could get hurt..." A second later Yamcha realized what Sora was talking about when he saw a large form pass into the light of the moon. Sora tried to lift into the air but couldn't muster the energy.
Hotaru was about to charge a Ki blast to launch at Recoome when she heard a loud screech echo through the air. She turned from where the alien had landed to look off into the west. "Huh? Oh, Max! Go back, it's dangerous out here!" she called. Suddenly Hotaru's eyes widened in pain and shock. Recoome had taken advantage of her distraction and charged back up slamming his large fist into her stomach catching her completely off guard and doubling her over. He then backhanded her spinning her around before slamming a foot into her back, sending her into the beach only a few yards from Sora and Yamcha.
Yamcha grimaced and tried to shut out the sound as the large Dovi let out a shrill and angry sounding screech unlike anything the Human had ever heard before. His eyes widened as Max surged straight for Recoome, the large alien holding his hands over his eyes and his eyes shut tight. Suddenly was gone from Yamcha's view as the Dovi passed overhead. When he moved out of Yamcha's field of view Recoome was gone.
"He... ate him?" Hotaru wondered as she pulled herself out of the ground holding her left arm which hung limply at her side. Max arced around in a circle above them a couple of times and then dove down and landed at the edge of the water pulling his wings in close. He lowered his head and gazed at the three injured fighters making an almost purring noise.
The three of them glanced at each other and then Yamcha fell back over and started laughing, wincing at the pain that lanced through him as he did. Hotaru grinned and moved over to him and patted him on the head and then scratched behind one of his ears. "Good boy..." she said, trying not to laugh as well. "Not exactly how I expected to win..." She shook her head and was about to say more when she felt two high powers nearing them quickly and remembered the others Recoome had come with.
She lifted into the air quickly and saw them coming. "All done then Recoome?" one of them called.
Hotaru smirked. "Yeah, his all done! And so are you!" She thrust her good arm forward sending the last of her energy toward them in a large wave. The two didn't have time to react before the blast overtook them. She wavered in the sky as the attack died and then fell toward the ground reverting to normal as she did. Max moved forward a little and she landed with a soft thud on his back.
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Tanarian Palace, communications room:
"You're kidding!" Bardock cried laughing. "Recoome was eaten!"
"Ya..." Hotaru said shaking her head. "I blacked out at that point, but Max flew me, mom, and Yamcha back to the palace and the medics took care of us from there." She sighed. "Anyway, we were kind of hoping the Dragon's powers could reach out here..."
Krillin nodded. "I don't think it'll be a problem. We can work it in with our wish somehow..."
"What happened down there anyway?" Yamcha asked.
Bardock shook his head. "A pair of Nameks a lot stronger than Piccolo, and Gohan and I became Super Sai-jins."
"You're kidding!" Hotaru cried, the entire room turning to look having heard Bardock's statement.
"No. We're both Super Sai-jins now as well."
"Wow... three transformations in one day..." Yamcha said recovering. "Any signs of Goku yet?"
"No, not yet." Gohan said sadly. Then he looked up again. "And you guys should have invited us all to the wedding!"
"Sorry kiddo." Hotaru said smiling. "We'll bring the pictures when we come for a visit. Which..."
"Princess Hotaru." A voice interrupted. She turned and looked and saw one of the medics that had been there when she'd woken up standing in the doorway. She cast a glance toward Yamcha, shrugged, and went over to speak with him. Yamcha and those on Earth remained silent as they watched the two talk for a moment, Hotaru's eyes opening in suprise after a moment, and then she glanced back at Yamcha leaving the Human completely puzzled.
A moment later the medic left and Hotaru turned around smiling. She ran back across the room and litterally jumped onto him wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He raised an eye brow at her completely lost as to why she was acting like she was. He was about to say something when she beat him to it. "You don't have to worry about fighting me if you beat Akira in the tournament once it resumes. The doctors just suggested I pull from the competition."
Yamcha blinked. "Why?"
"They don't want to risk the baby getting hurt."
-End Saga-
