Chapter 48: Helles' Test
(Opening Theme: Backbone by Daughtry)
When you're hurting deep down,
When you're feeling like you're never gonna dig your way out,
Never gonna dig your way out,
Keep pushing up the river.
Keep mining for the silver,
'Til you've struck gold.
Gotta weather the storm.
'Cause it can't rain forever!
No!
I'm telling you!
We all fall on hard times,
You know,
Each day is a high climb,
You know,
Some days your body has to carry on,
So you gotta show a little backbone!
WOO-OO-OO-OOOO!
You know!
WOO-OO-OO-OOOO!
You know!
WOO-OO-OO-OOOO!
You know,
You gotta show a little backbone!
These troubles so real,
We're all facing temptations,
And our own fears.
Year after year.
But it can't rain forever!
NO!
I'm telling you!
We all fall on hard times,
You know,
Each day is a high climb,
You know,
Some days your body has to carry on,
So you gotta show a little backbone!
WOO-OO-OO-OOOO!
You know!
WOO-OO-OO-OOOO!
You know!
WOO-OO-OO-OOOO!
You know!
You gotta show a little backbone!
(You gotta show a little backbone)
You know!
(You gotta show a little backbone)
You gotta show a little backbone!
Are you strong enough,
To get back up?
When the chains hold you to the ground?
So let's break 'em down!
Yeah!
Let's break 'em down!
Let's break 'em down!
WOAH!
I'm telling you!
We all fall on hard times,
You know.
Each day is a high climb,
You know,
Some days your body has to carry on,
So you gotta show a little backbone!
We all fall on hard times!
Yeah!
Each day is a high climb,
You know!
We all fall on hard times!
You know!
(You gotta show a little backbone)
We all fall on hard times!
Yeah!
(You know each day is a high climb, you know)
We all fall on hard times!
Each day is a high climb!
You know!
So you gotta show a little backbone!
Everyone backed away from the doorway as Helles stepped into Rachel and Beate's apartment. She looked down at them all, before returning her attention to Pearl. The Majin girl immediately fell down on her knees and kowtowed on the floor so hard her head struck the floor, "Please forgive me! I was deceived! Had I known I never would have done it!" Helles quietly watched as Pearl continued to bang her head on the floor before saying, "Stop. Your words won't satisfy me." Pearl looked up, her forehead slightly flattened and slowly returning to shape. Kenshiro swallowed and asked, "What would satisfy you, Helles-sama?" "And who are you?" Helles asked. "Pearl's fiancé," Kenshiro answered. Helles eyed him up and down before she said, "Hakai!" "KENNY!" Pearl screamed as white light encircled him.
"You bitch!" Rachel and Beate screamed in unison and charged at her, only for Helles to catch Rachel's punch and swing her into Beate like a club before knocking the dhampir out with a chop to the neck and tossing her aside. She then appeared next to Beate and took her down with a chop to the neck as well, while Pearl watched Kenshiro, too horror-struck to move. When the light dissipated, Kenshiro still stood, only his clothes erased. Helles walked closer to the now nude Earthling and surveyed his body up and down, every muscle, callous, and battle scar. She walked in front of him and grabbed his jaw, turning his head in different ways before opening his mouth and looking inside as well. Kenshiro felt like a pig being inspected before the slaughter.
Helles looked at Pearl and said, "I have decided then. A test. A contest, you against me in a true fight, no tricks, no outsiders. If you win, I will forgive you, and go back to Universe 2. But if I win…" Helles smirked at Kenshiro as he tried to cover himself, "Then I will toss you into a corner of the room and make you watch as your fiancé pleasures me." "What the fuck lady!" Kenshiro yelled, waking up Rachel and Beate. "Goddess or not, I'm no ones…sex toy! I don't care if you are a Goddess of Destruction, there's no way you can make me cheat on Pearl!" "Fine, then I'll just destroy her right now and be on my way," Helles said as dark Destructive Ki appeared in her hand. "WAIT!" Rachel, Beate, and Kenshiro all yelled. "I'll do it," Pearl said. "Excellent," Helles said, and the Destructive Ki disappeared, "We shall battle at noon exactly tomorrow in a pocket dimension of my own creation, the battle shall be broadcast live across Conton City."
Helles then winked and blew a kiss to Kenshiro before saying, "I hope you enjoy being on the bottom." She finally created a pink portal and left them. "Shit!" Beate cursed, "I thought I was stronger than that! I feel like a damn rookie!" "There's worse news," Rachel said while Pearl used Majin Magic to create a pair of pants and shoes for Kenshiro. "Shadlyn and Yuu are still alive, and Pearl has to fight a pissed off Goddess of Destruction to stop me from being raped," Kenshiro said, "What's worse?" "That isn't the Prime Helles, that is an Alternate Helles, one that's a warper," Rachel explained. Everyone stopped then, and Pearl collapsed on Rachel and Beate's couch. "Shit," the Majin girl cursed. "Can we run?" Kenshiro asked, surprising all the women present. He saw them looking at him and he said, "She's too powerful, a God of Destruction, plus a warper, Pearl, even you might not be strong enough for that. We don't know what she'll do to you. She might…I don't know! Throw you into another dimension to be raped by demons; or disassemble you and reassemble you or… brainwash you!"
"I don't think she'll do that," Rachel said, "She seemed to want an honest fight the two of them, going all out using their power." "Exactly!" Kenshiro yelled, "All out! Every card on the table, no holds barred! Under those circumstances, let's face it, a God of Destruction has the advantage against a mortal, and a warper has the advantage against a normal person. Helles has the advantage." "Damn, when you put it like that…Pearl's screwed in a bad way," Beate said, thinking about it. "It doesn't matter," Pearl said, "I still have to fight her. This is my mess, I need to fix it somehow." "Damn it," Kenshiro cursed, "This is bullshit, this is all Shadlyn's fault, why can't she just go after that bitch and leave us alone?" "Kenny, calm down, I know what I'm doing," Pearl went to him, putting a hand on his cheek to try to reassure him. "What are you planning?" he asked her. "To see if anything else will satisfy her," Pearl said. "Only your suffering will satisfy her, it looks like," he responded. "It won't hurt to at least try," Pearl said, then turned to Rachel.
"Give me a minute to get dressed," Rachel said, and headed back to her room. She emerged five minutes later wearing a black kunoichi outfit like Shurayuki used to wear and a ninjato strapped to her back. "Let's go," Rachel said. Kenshiro and Pearl got next to her as she opened up a blue portal. Rachel turned to Beate and told her, "Hold down the fort babe." "Right," Beate said, then Rachel, Pearl, and Kenshiro walked into the portal. The emerged in a…very large room with marble columns, floors, and windows showing a beach at sunset. Helles was reclining on an old-fashioned style couch and watching something sexual on a large-screen TV. Pearl then recognized the sound of Kenshiro making love, and the man started blushing furiously.
"If you're here to negotiate," Helles said, "There's only one way to satisfy me without a fight." Everyone walked around in front of Helles, and Rachel whistled at what she was seeing, "Damn, no wonder Beate looked at her." Pearl's curiosity got the better of her, and she saw the TV was connected to an Interdimensional Cable Box, and currently showing Kenshiro making love to Tsubaki. Pearl felt stirrings of jealousy run through her as she watched, Tsubaki was better looking than her in nearly every way. Pearl shook her head and turned to Helles, then bowed to her, "How else may I satisfy you, Helles-sama?" Helles didn't even look at Pearl, concentrating on her TV as she said, "Throw yourself into a 2000-degree fire until you're burned to ash. You basically did the same to me, I think it's only fair you feel that pain for yourself."
"Helles-sama, is there really no other way for you to forgive her?" Rachel asked, as seductively as she could. "You and your girlfriend, and Kenshiro's Mother, all three of you together couldn't satisfy my lust. Ordinarily it takes at least five men to satisfy me, but from what I've seen so far," Helles stood up and smiled at Kenshiro, "You might be the equal to a hundred men." "Fuck me sideways," Kenshiro quietly cursed. "Oh I will," Helles smiled as she reached for him, only for the Earthling to step back from her and Pearl get between them. "You haven't beaten me yet," Pearl angrily said. "True, but the fight shouldn't last too long," Helles said, then grabbed Pearl by her throat. To everyone's surprise, Pearl's ki aura exploded around her in a blinding display of power before she gripped Helles's forearm and squeezed it, hard enough to make her let go. "Maybe not," Pearl said before letting her go. Rachel opened up a new portal, and they returned to hers and Beate's apartment.
They arrived to see Beate in her Saiyan Armor. She asked, "What happened? How'd it go? Is the fight called off?" "The fight is still on," Rachel told her. "Oh man…" Beate responded, "And even a threesome with us couldn't persuade her?" "She said you guys, and Mom, wouldn't be enough, at least five men is the minimum to satisfy her," Kenshiro told Beate, his face alternating between green and red. "Damn, why guys? No offense Kenshiro, but guys are too hairy, hard, and smelly," Beate said as she sat down on her couch, "At least women got boobs." "Sexual preference aside," Kenshiro said before turning to Pearl, "What can we do?" Pearl looked back at him; and saw how Rachel and Beate were looking at her as well. "Look," the Majin girl started, "This is my fight. You don't need to get involved. I don't think she's as powerful as Beerus-sama, I think…maybe…I can win against her."
"Pearl, are you sure?" Kenshiro asked, "Isn't there anything I can do to help you?" She looked into her fiance's eyes, she saw how desperately he wanted to be useful. She reached up to his cheek and rubbed it, feeling the start of stubble on it before she said, "Kenny, I wouldn't be as strong as I am now if it wasn't for you. You've done enough for me. I can't ask anymore of you." "Of course you can!" he said, grabbing her hand and kissing it, "You will be my wife, what kind of husband, what kind of man would I be if I didn't help you in every way possible? Maybe we can go to Dende-sama and ask to use the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, or…" Pearl cut him off with a kiss. She smiled at him, this Earthling, the son of a shinobi and a doctor who had become one of the most powerful humans to ever live, and said, "Just give me some space to meditate. And maybe get a big breakfast ready for me when I'm done meditating?"
Kenshiro swallowed and grit his teeth, "Damn it, I'm supposed to be a man, I should be the one protecting you. But…If that's what you need me to do, I'll do it." "Thank you, Kenny," Pearl told him, and gave him another kiss. The two of them turned to Beate and Rachel, they both looked on the verge of happy tears. "Oh, don't mind us," Beate said, "You two lovebirds can do whatever you need to here." "No, we need to head home, so I can prepare," Pearl told them. Pearl and Kenshiro left Rachel and Beate's apartment and walked back to their own together.
Once they reached their apartment they heard Barit in the bathroom muttering, "I'm never going to challenge a Saiyan to a drinking contest ever again…UUUUGH!" "Barit? You need anything?" Kenshiro asked their Namekian roommate. "Lot's of coffee, and water, and apirin!" Barit yelled back in response. Pearl turned to Kenshiro, "You take care of him, I need to meditate in our room to get ready." "Alright," he agreed, and got to work making breakfast, while Pearl went to their room. She stripped off her kimono and took a shower, then got dressed in an outfit she hadn't worn before, an all black Buu-gi. After getting dressed, she sat down in the Lotus position on hers and Kenshiro's bed and cleared her mind.
It had been so long since she had meditated, it was almost like going to a spa with how comforting it felt to clear her mind of distractions and only focus inward. Her breathing was slow and relaxed, as she drifted further within herself, within her very being. She had truly grown powerful, physically, but she had lost focus in her spiritual strength. Pearl allowed her ki to flow within her, not forced like in battle, but at its own pace, like a healthy river, all throughout her body. In this river that was all her, she felt serenity, and confidence in herself. It was a confidence she only found thanks to everyone she loved, her friends and her family, all of them who supported her and believed in her, their confidence was what strengthened her own confidence, and in that confidence did she truly find her strength. Her mind and her soul reveled in this power she had struggled and fought for it, and it was all hers; as she felt her power flowing through her, she truly realized what she had become. No longer was she the frightened girl that was bullied in school, she was a warrior, a hero, a Time Patroller.
"Pearl, it's eleven," Kenshiro called out from behind the door. Pearl opened her eyes and saw that her aura was glowing around her, like a thin silver outline. "Whoa," she said outloud before remembering her fiancé, "Coming!" Pearl got out of her room to see Kenshiro and Barit had made a feast for her, five dozen pancakes, enough bacon to make a whole pig, at least five pounds of eggs, and at least two gallons of strong tea. "I…I don't know what to say…" Pearl said when she saw the feast, while Kenshiro and Barit stared at her aura. "Just enjoy your breakfast, Pearl. You'll need all the energy to beat Helles," Barit told her. "Oh I will," Pearl said, and dug in.
She ate as fast as her body allowed, moving in a blur, yet making sure not to make a mess, she wanted to eat as much as she could before the fight, Barit was right about her needing the energy. Barit stood aside, while Kenshiro poured tea for her, struggling to keep up with her. By the end, it was almost ten minutes before the appointed time for the fight when Pearl had finished all the food. She sighed contentedly and patted her much larger stomach before her body speedily digested everything. Pearl's aura glowed brighter as all the energy from her breakfast flowed through her. There was a knock on the door, and Barit answered it. Helles walked in, "Are you ready?" Pearl jumped up and said with a confident smile, "Bring it on." Helles had a confident smirk on her face as she led Pearl, Kenshiro, and Barit out to the middle of Conton City's shopping district. Dozens of floating screens filled the air, showing Helles and Pearl. Helles clapped her hands together, making a thunderous noise that grabbed everyone's attention.
"Hear me now, Time Patrollers of the Seventh Universe, I, Helles, the Goddess of Destruction of Universe 2, shall now test the power of your strongest warrior! She has done me a grievous injury, and only this will settle whether she must recompense me, or if I shall forgive her past wrongs! Let us begin!" Helles swung her right arm in a circle above her head and created a pink portal, then jumped in. Pearl did the same and arrived at what looked like the stage of the Tournament of Power. It was far larger than she imagined because there were only two combatants, herself and Helles. Helles took off her crown and cracked her neck, "I hope you will enjoy the show as I ravish your man." Pearl cracked her own neck and rolled her shoulders before taking her fighting stance, "That will never happen."
They both flew at each other too fast for any lesser eye to follow. In Conton City, the cameras had to slow down to one-hundredth their normal speed in order to catch them. Helles flew in with a punch that Pearl blocked, only for Helles to then catch her with a kick to her stomach that sent her flying back and into the central column of the stage. Pearl remained where she was as Helles came in for another kick, only for Pearl to catch her foot and blast her back with a Super Explosive Wave. Pearl followed up by charging up a Kamehameha and warping behind Helles, blasting her point blank in the back, nearly sending her flying off the stage. Helles however got up and smiled, before forming a heart shape with her hands, "Cannon de Amour!" Thousands of small ki blasts shaped like hearts flew at Pearl, and she struggled to dodge them. The blasts were coming faster and faster, grazing Pearl's cheeks and shoulders before she finally used Instant Transmission to get behind Helles, but the Goddess was ready for her and pounded a back-spinning hook kick into Pearl's face before following it up with a roundhouse kick with the same leg.
Pearl went with the force of the kick and landed her own spinning side-kick to Helles' nose, making the Goddess back up. Pearl used Instant Transmission to get in front of Helles and heel-kicked her in the nose, this time breaking it. Helles blindly blasted Pearl back with a ki wave before putting her hands on both sides of her flattened nose and snapping it back into shape. "You…made a God of Destruction…bleed," Helles said in surprise. "Just give up on beating me, before you bleed some more," Pearl told her. Helles blew air and blood through her nose before wiping her face off and said, "No. I haven't had a good fight in centuries! Before I only wanted to humiliate you, but now, I want to defeat you!" Helles' speed was something Pearl didn't' expect, she seemed to disappear before Pearl felt the back of Helles' fist on her face, sending her flying through the air. Pearl saw her next attack coming and quickly blocked the axe kick but was sent crashing into the stage as a result.
The Majin girl quickly jumped up and countered Helles' punch with her own, the shockwave was so powerful that even those in Conton City felt a small ripple effect. Pearl and Helles' fists clashed again, with an even stronger shockwave, before Pearl kicked Helles' stomach a followed up by grabbing her head, pulling her into a hard knee, re-breaking her nose again. Helles responded by blasting Pearl with Cannon de Amour, knocking Pearl back, each heart exploding on impact with her body, feeling like she was being pelted with a meteor shower. Helles got to Pearl before she could recover and grabbed her head tentacles tightly with her left hand before making her right hand glow with pink ki, "Ken no Ai!" Helles' fist struck Pearl's stomach with such power that Pearl feared she was about to be skewered, Helles' arm was elbow deep into her stomach as it was, making Pearl vomit up some of her breakfast mixed with blood.
Pearl fought through the pain and stretched out her arms to grab Helles' foot, pulling it up. This caught her opponent by surprise, and Pearl quickly wrapped herself into a leg lock with Helles, twisting the Goddess' ankle as she put pressure on her knee as well. "Give up! Or I'll break your leg!" Pearl yelled as she applied more pressure. Helles yelled in surprise before grabbing Pearl's own foot and tried to twist it. "No bones! I barely feel it!" Pearl yelled at her as she put more pressure into her leg lock. Helles suppressed a scream as Pearl forced her ankle to twist more and more, Pearl was sure that if she moved even one more degree then she would break it. Helles then did something no one expected, and bit into Pearl's leg, and tore a chunk of her flesh out of it!
"PEARL!" Kenshiro screamed in shock as she screamed in pain before twisting Helles' ankle and breaking her knee at the same time. It was Helles' turn to scream in shock as Pearl and she blasted each other in their faces, mutually knocking each other back. Pearl focused on her body and forced her leg to heal, she could feel the drain that was to her stamina as she stood up. Helles had white flames all around her as her leg was healed with Warper's Will, along with the rest of her injuries. Both of Helles' fists glowed with pink ki as she glared at Pearl and flew at her yelling, "Ken no Ai Nito!" Pearl's own aura glowed around her before they clashed again. Helles' fists flew at Pearl far faster than Pearl could consciously follow, all she could do was allow her body to move by pure fighting instinct as she blocked blow after blow.
Her arms soon hurt after only five seconds of blocking, and she knew that she had to do something quick. Pearl desperately focused her power into her mouth and blasted Helles with Ill Blast, giving her room and follow up by lifting her arm. Pearl yelled out, "Assault Rain!" Pearl blasted hundreds of ki blasts into the air before she flew at Helles. Helles landed a hard punch to her face, but Pearl took it and landed her own punch to Helles' face. Helles answered with another punch that would have broken a Saiyan's jaw, but Pearl persisted as she felt her hasty plan about to come to fruition. Pearl ducked under a third punch and slammed a hard uppercut to Helles' chin, that was when the Goddess saw Pearl's attack coming, right before the hundreds of ki blasts slammed into her body.
Pearl was knocked back by the explosion, but quickly stood up. When the smoke cleared, Helles was bleeding heavily, if Pearl had to guess she'd say that she had already lost at least two pints of blood. Helles glared at Pearl, and Pearl felt a heavy weight come on her, she remembered this feeling, the feeling of someone's Killing Intent. Only this was even more potent, all the hatred of a God of Destruction, who no doubt had killed billions across a Universe was focused completely on her. Pearl's knees buckled, but she refused to go down. Helles blasted out ki from her eyes, Pearl was too slowed down to dodge the blast as it pierced her chest. She coughed up blood and fell to one knee, and the still bleeding Helles started to walk towards her, and blasted Pearl again, this time through her stomach. Pearl vomited more breakfast and blood but forced her body to heal as she stood up as well.
The two heavily injured women slowly walked towards each other, both determined to win. Pearl focused and stopped ten feet in front of Helles, then stretched out her arms to grab Helles' by her shoulder and picked her up. Helles tried to blast Pearl a third time, but she was too shocked to aim, and missed, before Pearl lifted her up high and yelled, "This is it, Helles-sama! I just hope this won't kill you!" Pearl quickly turned Helles around, and with all the strength she had left slammed Helles into the stage, head first! The dust cloud was enormous, as if a two-ton bomb went off, and Pearl fell to her hands and knees, exhausted from having to heal herself so much. Pearl crawled to where Helles was and saw that she was knocked out. "Thank goodness it's over," Pearl said before crawling closer and placing her hands on Helles. She focused her Majin Magic and healed the Goddess, enough for her to regain consciousness and not bleed to death, she was too tired to do more.
"You won," Helles said. "Yes," Pearl agreed. Helles smiled at Pearl, "It was an amazing fight. Well done. All is forgiven." Helles stood up and created a portal, and even helped Pearl walk through it. The second they were back in Conton City, Pearl collapsed onto Kenshiro. He held her close yet delicately before picking her up bridal style. "Take me home. I need a nap," Pearl tiredly said as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Anything you say," Kenshiro said, as all around them Time Patrollers cheered for her. Another obstacle was out of the way, another trial overcome.
(Ending Theme: Confident by Demi Lovato)
It's time for me to take it,
I'm the boss right now.
Not gonna fake it,
Not when you go down.
'Cause this is my game
And you better come to play!
I used to hold my freak back,
Now I'm letting go!
I make my own choice,
Bitch, I run this show!
So leave the lights on,
No you can't make me behave.
So you say I'm complicated,
That I must be outta my mind?
But you had me under rated,
Rated,
Rated!
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being,
What's wrong with being confident?
Huh huh huh?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being,
What's wrong with being confident?
Huh huh huh?
It's time to get the chains out,
Is your tongue tied up?
'Cause this is my ground,
And I'm dangerous!
And you can't get out,
But it's all about me tonight!
So you say I'm complicated,
That I must be outta my mind?
But you had me underrated,
Rated,
Rated!
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being,
What's wrong with being confident?
Huh huh huh?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being,
What's wrong with being confident?
Huh huh huh?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being,
What's wrong with being confident?
Huh huh huh?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being,
What's wrong with being confident?
Huh huh huh?
So you say I'm complicated,
But you've had my underrated, rated,
Rated!
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being,
What's wrong with being confident?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being,
What's wrong with being confident?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being,
What's wrong with being confident?
What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being,
What's wrong with being confident?