Chapter 082 – Kadab and Dabura
Kadab was fast. Corset could still see him although not as clearly as she'd anticipated. She jumped to the side as he tossed forward his fist; turning on the balls of his feet and lunging for her. Kadab's fists turned into a barrage of punches, all of which Corset had to block. Indeed she would need her Super Saiyan form against this guy if this wasn't his maximum. Spotting an opening Corset decked Kadab clean in the face, sending the fighter skidding across the ground on his heels. He seemed genuinely surprised yet Corset couldn't see any sign of damage on his face. Yes, she would more than likely need to transform if she was going to make any sort of impact on him. His endurance was impressive. 'This guy certainly seems fast and durable, just like Kaioshin was saying...' Corset clenched her fists. "Alright then, Super Saiyan it-"
Corset barely had any time to register what was happening before Kadab elbowed her in the cheek. Corset was sent flying backwards, disappearing with a large crash into a nearby boulder.
"Corset!" Gohan cried concerned.
Corset's vision quickly returned as did all her other senses. Her head pounded from colliding with the rocky wall, her cheek hurt from the initial strike. What hurt the most was knowing she had been the first fighter to take some damage and had been the first fighter in this ship to provide energy for Majin Buu. Corset rose to her feet and glared indignantly at her opponent, her temper aroused. "You're so dead."
The loose fragments of rock around her began to rise into the air as Corset powered up into a Super Saiyan with a roar, anger starting to run high. Now was not the time for messing around; she was too much at risk from his attacks and needed to end it quickly.
Kadab was inches before her in the blink of an eye with one fist rolling out towards her. Corset ducked and dodged his attacks, spotting an opening and kicking Kadab in the gut. Kadab shot backwards through the air; Corset teleported reappearing behind him and decked him down into the ground with both fists cupped into a ball. Kadab vanished into a dust-filled crater, the loud eruption of displaced soil and rock rumbling through the fields.
"That was for not letting me finish my sentence!" Corset snapped. She spotted a small glint of purple light within the dust and quickly leapt backwards on guard, though it wasn't an energy attack as she'd first thought. With a loud roar Kadab's ki dramatically soared higher and higher; Corset guessing he was powering up to his maximum form.
Nearby the spectators were watching with interest.
"Kadab's getting angrier... We must stop this foolishness and work together!" Kaioshin cried. "Kadab is not one to think rationally when he is angry - he's ruthless; Corset won't be able to last!"
"He's stronger than the other fighters, I'll give him that." Goku did not share Kaioshin's concerns, he seemed more excited about the fight than anything. "He's not as strong as that Dabura guy though so he's not strong enough to even challenge Corset, not seriously anyway!"
Kadab charged up towards the Super Saiyan and lashed out. His attacks were still being dodged and Corset could see as he grew angrier his attacks became sloppier. So he did have limitations. Infuriated with his lack of progress Kadab threw a punch; Corset catching it in her palm. The stoic look on her face irked him further, "I'll kill you, you scrawny Earthling! Don't mock me!" He drew back his other fist and went to punch; again Corset caught it. Her body shifted as she brought her legs up to her chin, booting Kadab in the chest and sending the fighter into another mountain.
"See, what'd I tell you?" Goku smiled at Kaioshin.
"She's gotten a lot stronger in these seven years," Gohan agreed.
Vegeta stood in silence watching the battle. So far so good.
Kadab emerged from the dust and shot up towards Corset, charging up an energy attack as he did so. Corset brought her arms across her body in a defensive stance and roared as she threw them both out to the side, expelling energy as she did so. Kadab was hit by an invisible blast of ki and sent spiralling back towards the ground, managing to stop himself before he hit. The energy blast was still in his hand. With one swift movement of his arm he launched it towards his opponent. Kadab's energy blast shot towards Corset rapidly. With little effort she dodged it and glared back down at him. "Bit of a desperate move don't you think?" She jeered unimpressed with his apparent lack of strategy.
"Don't be so cocky, girl!" Kadab grinned.
Corset studied his face for a moment before glancing over her shoulder. "... So it's one of those kinds of ki attacks?"
She leapt up higher into the sky as the blast dashed past her again, turning and honing in on her once more. Corset shot backwards through the sky as the blast followed her, unable to tell if it was following her because of her ki or because Kadab was controlling its movement...
She hadn't noticed her opponent was on the move. Corset gasped and ducked as Kadab went in to attack, narrowly dodging his fist and ramming her own into his jaw. Her attention went back to the ball of ki; she knew exactly where this was going if she let it continue. With a bellow she sent out a kiai at the blast; deflecting it and sending it over her head.
Kadab closed in on her and grabbed her by the wrist, spinning Corset around several times and releasing her – in that instant of release, Corset grabbed his own wrist and used this force against him, tossing Kadab straight into his own oncoming ki blast! The explosion knocked Corset back slightly though she quickly recovered and landed safely on the ground in front of the others. Her eyes stayed focused on her opponent who was just emerging from the smoke; he landed on heavy feet a metre away and glared at her.
"This... this is insane!" He snarled. "You're just a human – a measly little human! How can I be losing to someone like you? How does a human like you even contain this amount of power?"
Corset glared intensely back at him. "This isn't my full power: I can go far higher than this... Why don't you just give up and let us pass through?" She wasn't one to needlessly kill an opponent, no matter how much her father had tried to install that kind of thinking into her. She was primarily an Earthling with Earthling values, she would not stoop so low to kill an opponent who stood little chance against her. Today would be no different.
"Let you pass through? You must be joking!" Kadab snorted. "... Master Babidi – transport us to the Planet Ab! I'll finish her off and get you the energy you need for Majin Buu there!"
"The Planet Ab it is! Don't let me down, Kadab!"
Corset watched as the scenery around them changed yet again, this time to a planet covered in mist. She couldn't make out any landmarks of any kind. The ground below her felt a little less solid and she immediately hovered above the ground, unsure of what it was; mud, quicksand or something unfamiliar to Earth. What was so special about this place...?
It didn't take long for her to realise. Corset couldn't sense any ki around her! 'Ok, it's just like on the Dark Planet. Feel the movement...'
Something was on her left; Corset dodged Kadab's energy blast, gasping and ducking when she sensed another one heading straight for her! The lack of sensing ki was something she wasn't entirely used to and made her uneasy but she'd trained enough to be able to detect movements, just as Goku had against Yakon.
Nearby Gohan, Goku, Vegeta and Kaioshin were standing watching through the mist. None of them could see Corset but could see purple lights dashing around inside the thick mist.
"This could be a problem," Gohan mumbled. "Maybe I ought to go help her."
"She's fine," Goku spoke.
"How do you know that? We can't sense her ki!" Gohan asked.
"Just trust me on this one, ok?" Goku replied glancing over to his son. "I haven't felt any collisions in the atmosphere, only movement. Corset's doing fine."
"If you say so, Dad..." Gohan slowly nodded his head.
"... She's toying with him..." Vegeta muttered. "If she'd finished this off sooner she wouldn't be having this problem!"
Kadab stood in an area of mist not too far from Corset, able to control his energy attacks with ease...
Something moved to his right; Kadab turned just to be punched in the face by Corset, the Super Saiyan's relentless attack letting up only as the homing energy blasts approached her from behind. Kadab managed to turn them away from himself and after her; Corset racing higher and higher into the sky. She began to charge up energy into each hand as she rose, stopping in mid-air and tossing two separate blasts down towards the oncoming attacks. The explosion in front of them shook the ground the spectators stood on. A light gust pushed some of the mist away but this was replaced by dust and smoke from the explosion.
Corset charged down to the ground, bouncing off it on all-fours and charging head-first into Kadab, once again beating him down. With a bellow she gathered her energy and expelled it all around her, pushing the mist away from where she stood as well as sending Kadab flying into a nearby lake with a mighty splash.
'I can sense him if I'm close enough to him... there's gotta be something in this mist interfering with my senses because I still can't sense the others...' Corset waited patiently as Kadab rose to his feet, soaking wet from the cold water he'd landed in. 'He's gotta realise by now he can't beat me... He's only had one strike in and that was because my guard was down!'
Kadab trudged out from the water looking more irate than ever. "... Girl... This ends now! NO ONE IS FASTER THAN I AM!" He began to gather purple ki in his hands charging up yet another energy attack. With a bellow Kadab fired off his attack, the beam rapidly closing in on Corset.
The Super Saiyan stood defiantly as the attack charged straight towards her. She revved up her aura and held out both hands...
The spectators felt a shockwave quickly followed by strong gusts of wind; the mist rapidly dispersing revealing the oncoming beam and the two fighters either side of it. Corset was currently pinned between the ground and the oncoming attack, so far keeping it from moving further forward.
"I can see them now!" Gohan spoke nervously. "This looks bad."
Corset's feet dug deeper into the muddy surface of the ground as she held the beam at bay, focusing her energy as she did so. It was now or never.
Kadab suddenly felt extra resistance to his own attack as Corset took a step forwards, then another, much to his disbelief. The Super Saiyan screamed loudly as she began to raise her ki level, skyrocketing as she became shrouded in a blinding bolt of light. The aura emitting from her completely cancelled out the oncoming beam and deflected it up into the sky. The electrical build-up around her body generated through the damp air as she slowly approached him; eyes and glare far sharper and menacing than before.
Her legs twitched as she pushed off the ground.
Kadab gagged with shock, the wind knocked out of his body as one blow was dealt. Corset's fist had pierced through his stomach; a couple of blue flashes bright enough to be seen through his skin.
It was too late for him to do anything. Corset's attack exploded inside of Kadab's body, destroying him in the heat of her beam. Every trace of him vanished in a matter of seconds.
She raised her free arm, sensing the deflected beam coming straight down at her. The ki attack struck and exploded on impact with a thunderous roar; mud and dirt being tossed up through the air. As the cloud of smoke subsided, Corset emerged unscathed still in her Super Saiyan Two form. Without a word she walked back over towards the others, noticing the hole in the floor was opening.
"You did it!" Gohan cheered. "I can't believe it, you can freely control your Super Saiyan Two form now!"
Corset sighed and transformed back to her normal state, "I've been able to do that for a while now." She nodded. As much as her human side was crying out in protest, she'd had a change of heart as for the fate of her opponent. She couldn't have left him alive, not in the state she was going to leave him in, that would have been crueller than killing him. Unfortunately his death also meant they could pass onto the next room and grow one step closer to Babidi.
"You could have ended that fight far quicker if you hadn't toyed with him!" Vegeta snapped. "Thanks to your idiocy, you took damage!"
"I wanted to give him a chance to live," Corset pouted, a little sore still from that hit. It did disappoint her she'd let him have that hit. It had been a while since she'd fought with someone other than her father or Piccolo. She would never admit it in front of her father but the prospect of getting to fight other people again did excite her.
"Aww come on Vegeta, lighten up! Good job; you've gotten a lot stronger in seven years," Goku smiled at his former student. "Come on, let's go down and see what's on the next floor."
"I'll bet it's a room looking exactly like all the others." Corset rolled her eyes wryly.
As expected the room at the bottom of the shaft looked like every room they'd been in so far!
"You're up next, Gohan!" Goku smiled. "Let's see how your training's paid off."
"As I said before Kakarrot, your son took peace as an excuse to slack off." Vegeta scoffed. "We're stronger than he is now… Of course I could be wrong; maybe he got some practice in during his breaks or PE?" This last sentence was more of a jeer.
Gohan awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.
"I didn't think so..."
"W-Well hey, maybe if he gets angry enough he'll become all merciless like he did with Cell," Corset suggested, feeling a little bad for Gohan and annoyed her dad was picking on him.
The door to the side of the room began to slide open, all eyes on the emerging fighter.
"Dabura!" Kaioshin gasped in horror.
'Babidi must be getting desperate,' Corset noted to herself, suddenly feeling a little nervous. Dabura was a pretty strong fighter from what Kaioshin had been saying; could Gohan stand up to him in his current state?
"You've defeated Kadab and reached stage four," Dabura smiled deviously, "Not bad for humans; in fact it's miraculous... but this is as far as you'll go. You'll have to deal with me now."
"Babidi must be getting pretty nervous if he's sent the top dog out already," Vegeta snorted.
Dabura retorted unfazed, "Talk is for the weak. Come at me, all of you!" He put up his defences.
"No way, I'll be your opponent!" Gohan interrupted annoyed.
"What?" Dabura glared at Gohan looking fractious as he eyed the young warrior up, "You dare mock me?"
"Hey, this place is too small and crowded," Gohan glanced around, "We should get your friend Babidi to use his magic; a different place would be better, like a spot on the beach... oh but we'd get sand in our boots..."
"Silence, child!" Dabura snarled. "You will fight me here and now!"
"Wait Dabura!" It was Babidi again. "It may not be such a bad idea to pick another place for the fight. After all we'll need to keep my ship intact if we're to revive Majin Buu."
"Of course..." Dabura regained his composure and was back to his arrogant stance.
The room around them whirled in a variety of colours leading to an unknown place. It looked very similar to the scenery outside of the ship, mountains and pillars of rock as far as the eye could see, with a blood-red sky.
Gohan put up his guard.
"Gohan, stay focused," Goku smiled eager to see his son fight again for nearly seven years of being absent.
"Right, Dad."
'Let's see how this turns out...' Corset gulped and kept her eyes keenly on both fighters. "...Good luck..." She mumbled quietly, a feeling of nervousness coming over her. Gohan hadn't trained in seven years until a month or so ago; just how would he fare up against Dabura?
Gohan leapt forward, teleporting above Dabura and closing in on him.
The fight wasn't too intense and Corset had no problems keeping up with both fighters' movements. Dabura seemed to have the advantage over Gohan which brought more tension through her body, she didn't like the thought of Gohan struggling and taking on damage. 'No, I have to stay out of this: it's Gohan's fight...' She reminded herself time and time again, watching as the demon king slowly overwhelmed Gohan, although he barely made a hit.
Gohan had almost plummeted into a lake but had regained his flight. Dabura was above grinning confidently. The tenacious teenager charged up at his opponent; Dabura fired off a blue line of ki; Gohan dodged and glanced down as the ki blade effortlessly slid through the water's surface and ground like a hot knife through butter, destroying a couple of nearby rock pillars. Two more were fired off; again Gohan dodging and glaring at his opponent.
Gohan dived into the lake below...
Seconds later an energy blast shot out from the surface straight towards the demon king. Dabura grinned and held out one hand to block the oncoming beam. Suddenly Gohan emerged to the side and struck Dabura in the arm, barely dodging his own attack. His opponent soared into one of the many surrounding mountainsides. After a couple of tense seconds the rubble burying the demon began to rise into the air along with Dabura who seemed unscathed...
"Gohan move!" Corset gasped realising what Dabura was about to do. The boulders suddenly shot towards Gohan, knocking him backwards into a mountain, dust and rubble clattered everywhere.
The dust was quickly dispersed; the huge jump in his ki hadn't gone unnoticed by his comrades. Gohan emerged as a Super Saiyan.
"Finally, now we'll get to see a real test!" Vegeta muttered, "Let's see how Dabura does against a Super Saiyan."
"Yeah, it always makes things more interesting," Goku smiled.
Gohan's speed had increased; Dabura was caught off guard by the sudden strike to his stomach, followed by a punch between the eyes that sent him shooting back off his feet. A blow to the back of the head pushed him forwards and straight into the ground.
'He's either off-guard or in trouble,' Corset kept her eyes on the ground. Her head tilted back to look up at Gohan as Dabura made a quick dash, effectively appearing behind the Super Saiyan. The battle continued and now it seemed Gohan held a slight advantage, although Dabura seemed to be pretty endurable.
"Amazing..." Kaioshin spluttered.
"You haven't seen anything yet," Goku grinned proudly.
Dabura's energy started to rise; Corset keeping a close eye on him as his ki soared higher and higher, a small part of her growing more confident when he reached what appeared to be his full potential. If that was his all then he was in trouble. The fighting grew more intense and brutal. Gohan had found an opening and had kicked Dabura backwards. The demon skidded on his heels and drew in his breath, suddenly firing off flames from his mouth like a flamethrower! Gohan evaded and charged in with a drawn fist ready.
'No!' Corset's eyes shifted behind Gohan who'd punched an after image.
Dabura fired off an energy attack from behind the fighter. Gohan was caught off-guard and sent crashing under the surface of the water.
"Aww no..." Goku sounded a little disappointed.
Corset looked on a little pitiful. He had more than enough time to dodge that attack; he'd decided to block it? 'Gohan you're not thinking... Come on, think like a fighter.' She was eager to see him come back with little damage and show Dabura what he was truly capable of but she feared the damage of him not training for seven years was greater than she'd anticipated. He'd lost his fighting edge.
Dabura wandered over to the edge of the lake waiting for Gohan to emerge...
Two energy balls shot from the surface and flew around Dabura, both closing in on him. The demon king batted both attacks away effortlessly, turning and firing off an attack at the emerging Gohan, engulfing him in a thick cloud of smoke as it struck.
"Gohan!" Goku called nervously.
Corset watched with her heart in her throat, worried about Gohan's condition. That attack had hit him at point blank. His skills were not what they used to be if he was still using these tactics. Dabura may not have the power Gohan had but he certainly had the wisdom and knowledge of a warrior.
The smoke cleared; Gohan had his arms in front of his head in a defensive stance.
"That was close..." She mumbled glancing quickly at her father and Goku.
"Dabura is far stronger than Kadab, Yakon, and Pui-Pui," Kaioshin warned making a small glance to Goku for the inevitable reassurance he'd grown used to hearing.
"... That's ok; so is Gohan," Goku answered.
Gohan ripped his torn shirt off and tossed it to the side. Both fighters began to hurriedly teleport around the surrounding area.
"... It's not working..." Corset mumbled growing a little annoyed.
"What does Gohan think he's doing; a direct attack won't work on this guy!" Goku muttered. "He should know better than that!"
"This is what happens when you don't train for seven years." Vegeta grunted. "He's completely lost his fighting sense. Pitiful!"
"Dad's right," Corset frowned feeling worried again. At this rate Gohan was in trouble if this was all he could come up with. If it had been her who'd ended up fighting Dabura, she could have easily taken him down.
"... I'm losing patience." Vegeta growled.
Corset grew confused as Dabura turned to glance towards them; completely taking his eyes off of his opponent...