[ OP: Granrodeo ‒ Remember Your Passion ]
Mei VS Dumdum! The Deadly Beauty of Simplicity!
AND NEORU MOVES ON TO THE QUARTER-FINALS!
Noise gradually fading out as he slung his former opponent over his shoulder, Neoru moved on into the inner halls between and below the stands. He spotted two silhouettes approaching on the way.
"Yo, did you two losers enjoy the show?"
Awkward eye contact was then made with a pair of medics. Neither was much older than he was.
"... was expectin' someone else."
"Sure you were," one responded with a less-than forgiving look, being given the patient before both headed off.
"Yeah, thanks, and... stuff..."
The other one began twitching sporadically.
"Hedidn'tsaysorry, hedidn'tsaysorry, HEDIDN'TSAYSORRY, HEDIDN'TSAYSORRY-"
"AND SORRY!" He scratched his temple. "That sucked…"
And then something slammed into his spine.
"YOU GO, TLATLA CHAMP!" Mashii exclaimed, smacking Neo's back and forcing out a yowl.
"COME ON, SHI-HIT!"
"O-oh, sorry," she said bashfully, she and Katlij helping up the now-teary eyed boy.
"Just called two medics losers cus'a you jerks," he smiled.
"In that case, your back's been spared," the brenchling chuckled. "Had I heard that, you'd be crawling right now. But speaking of crawling, that was perhaps the most harebrained transition I've ever witnessed, Neo. I'd go as far as to say you fought like a man possessed all throughout the latter half of the match!"
Neoru rubbed his sore everything. "Yeah? Well, I'm glad I finally got a concrete answer as to why, and a name on top'a that. Speaking of, I'm lost on how ya heard that shit, Mash."
"I made sure to pay attention. Still… and I thought earthlings only hated everything that wasn't from their own planet."
"Oh you've got no fuckin' idea how bad it is, we hate each other more than anything. Worst part is, most of us have damn-good reasons."
He looked down at his hand on their way to a med bay. "Looks like I've got a history of 'reasons' to thank for this quirk'a mine. Kinda sucks."
Mashii's look went sour.
"Well don't worry about it. You're not them. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
Neo was now better versed in the Hera clan's less-than stellar galactic reputation due to 5 special "envoys." So he understood her shift in expression, and nodded with a smile.
"No shit, right?"
Katlij silently analyzed Neo all the while, reflecting on he and Tenganosu's displays of what was apparently the explicit harnessing of something all earthlings had inside.
"(Give them enough time and reason, and humans can reach terrifying heights of power…)"
He looked ahead and spotted a familiar face, head lowered and back against the wall in a brooding manner.
"Hmph..."
Neo also noticed. "Oh, hey Dina."
"Don't you 'Hey Dina' me, you jerk."
"Eh?"
She pushed herself off.
"I saw it from the seatings. I know all about your technique, your 'Tlatla!'"
"... ok-"
"THAT'S ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES! PRIDELESS! DO YOU NOT REALIZE MY HUMILIATION!?"
"What the fuck are you tal-"
Dina dramatically turned her head, hair swinging back as a single tear gracefully fell.
"... JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"... see, it's funny because vegeta did it once during buu's tirade, and this moment kind of, er…"
"When it's only funny because it's a reference to something else, the joke falls pretty flat," Mashii dryly states.
"YOU'RE pretty flat," Dina retorted, verbally shooting the Hera through her below-average chest before storming off.
While she fell to her knees, clutching her chest in despair, Neo looked over to Katlij.
"I don't get it."
"I think she called her stupid?"
"Huh."
"And weren't you vomiting blood earlier? Should you be seeing someone?"
Neo shot Katlij a glare.
"If you had just shut up, then-"
He then fell to the ground.
Incense dimly lit the dark room, preceding a small tablet. In ancient symbols, a name was inscribed upon it, from top to bottom; and wedged behind it, a well-drawn portrait.
Mei clasped her hands together before it.
"(Róu Jiǎ Mó fū zǐ… on this day, you departed from my world. I cannot remember the date of which I would follow you, yet find myself in this place. Perhaps it is 'sentiment,' or maybe a question sealed until I could muster the courage to bring it forth, but this day, I feel compelled to ask...)"
With initial hesitation, she finally let loose the thought.
"(Would you be proud of me? Of this new path that I choose to pave? Does your spirit cry out in anger forever, knowing that I have cast aside revenge against the saiyans? Or would it swat me atop my head, for ever assuming that you would long for such a thing?)"
Her eyes saw brief glints, though her eyelids were fast enough to seal them.
"(No matter your answer… please watch over this battle. I want you to gaze upon it, upon this foolish Xiǎo Méi, with pride.)"
She unclasped her hands, and stood. Making her way to the door, as the golden threads that had completely covered the room slowly vanished, her amber eyes sharpened.
"(In exchange… I will show you an art worthy of succeeding Zhīzhū Yĭng-Quán.)"
The tournament's arena finally settled, rebirthed anew.
I HOPE YOU'VE ALL KEPT YOUR HEADS AFTER OUR FIRST OUTING, BECAUSE OUR SECOND MATCH IS NOW IN THE MAKING!
Mei stepped to the plate, as her chunky opponent did likewise from across the platform.
SHAO MEI! VERSUS! DUMDUM!
The extraterrestrial overall-over-t shirt-wearing big boy quite literally looked down upon his opponent with glee.
"Lucky~... A free win."
Silently, the crowd had unanimously agreed the moment they had laid eyes on the human.
All except one.
"Show me, Last Spider…"
Chahan stroked his beard.
"Show me the unparalleled edge, forged from thousands of years a mere six months."
Despite the prior open insult, Mei was… externally… unaffected.
"May we leave this battle with indifference."
"OK! Sure!"
Trunks raised his arm, and alongside it, both of Mei's.
WITH INTRODUCTIONS OUT OF THE WAY, AND BOTH FIGHTERS TAKING POSITION…
"(Zhīzhū Yĭng-Quán…)"
All three swathed through the air.
BEGIN!
"All-Seeing Strike Prison!"
Her Majin adversary came speeding toward her, as soon as she laid down her technique.
And passed her completely.
What she could swear was the sound of a large rubber ball smacked into her ears, before the entity smacked his mass into her.
Mei lifelessly flew through the air.
OH… IS… IS THE MATCH ALREADY OVER!?
Despite the would-be grisly display of power, however…
Mei's "Health Bar" had only dropped a mere 15%.
[ BGM: Shiro Sagisu ‒ L'arabesque Sindria ]
Qinggong. The ki-borne ability to dispose of one's weight.
It's an ancient ability, known by a great many martial artists.
Those of the modern era simply know it as "Bukujutsu," the Sky Dance: it is considered by many to be the highest form of this ability, freeing the user from the chains of physics and gravity altogether, to roam the clouds and become more free than any bird.
However, to call it the undisputed "Highest Level" would be folly. It is merely the one of the highest branches of a great tree.
Many lost to time, there are several more branches, just as high as Bukujutsu.
The ability to blend into force, becoming not the sturdiest wall but the lightest feather in the path of a charging beast, being one of them.
Xiao Mei, through ancient knowledge and tutelage, is now mere meters away from standing atop another "Highest Branch" of Qinggong:
"Taikūjutsu."
"Sky Body!"
Mei's former corpse slowly took life once more, gracefully settling toward the ground just near the edge of the arena, her stance now wavy and lacking any solid shape, as if a cloth replica had taken her place.
"(Flesh and Bone are Lost to Me. Form is a Sacrifice to the Wind. I am Now but Silk, within a Monsoon's Midst.)"
Dumdum looked dumdumbfounded. "(I got jittery and thought I killed her, but… she's not even hurt?)"
Her body suddenly snapped back into rigidness, her left hand taking the appearance of a dagger as she went from motionlessness to full-speed in an instant, catching her foe off guard and resulting in a hundred clean punctures. Appearing behind him, he merely turned around with a blank expression and went for a swat.
"(Cào dàn! So he does have an unearthly body!)" Mei internally hissed as the attack whizzed over her head, nearly taking it off. She noticed another wind-up and-
Another 15% ticked off her overall health, as she flew.
"(Would Mantis Sect arts be of any use?)" she inquired, before Dumdum rocketed above her.
He then slammed into a wall that wasn't there and bounded off, crashing into Mei and sending her into the ground.
A feather, malleable it may be, is still a physical object. With enough force, into another solid surface, even feathers will shatter.
A small, agonized wheeze spilled from her.
45%. From that attack alone.
A minute hadn't passed, and Mei was in the red.
Blood from her face smearing across the ground, she rolled for a spell until bounding back up, only to catch a peripheral glimpse of the 9-foot pinball hurtling toward her.
"(Now we find out!)"
Her right hand slowly and rhythmically swayed down before snapping into solid form, creating a vertical vector that cut even the atoms before it in twain.
Including… nay, especially, her opponent, who'd cleanly been halved before her, pieces flying behind. It was almost satisfying.
STUDENT DUMDUM HAS BEEN CUT CLEAN, DESPITE THE CLEAR POWER DISCREPANCY AT PLAY!
Mei knew the announcer, the "Trunks" fellow, was one who showed a genuine, fierce caring for the lives of others.
"(That tone…)"
Futility was revealed in moments.
Now, two mounds of mass ricocheted around the air, like an eldritch pachinko game.
"(THEN I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO…)"
She returned to her Taikūjutsu state.
The abnormal technique ‒ no, it could hardly be called that, the "technique" could be mimicked with an adequate-enough understanding of bukujutsu and was merely being aided with his do-it-all bodily composition ‒ didn't need to touch the ground at all. Her standard strike prison was borderline useless.
If she were slammed into the ground again, she would lose.
Being crushed in between the two masses would kill her.
The bastard hadn't even thrown a ki blast yet. If he did that, it would be over.
"How unfair…" Mei lamented.
"(Still… I have one option.)"
[ BGM: Shiro Sagisu ‒ Valse Hot ]
Forming her hand sign and pulling forth her spirit threads, she unraveled her hair, golden strands now running up and down it, and started sprinting. Her hands began whirring like a machine, as if mass-producing cat's cradles.
Every iota of concentration Mei had was fixated on maintaining her thread-spinning, on creating her sole route to victory. If she was hit, then-
Mei's senses suddenly shot into the stratosphere.
She got low and narrowly ducked half of Dumdum, legs horizontally spread across the ground enough to nearly be splitting.
Hands slowly pulling away from her mouth, yet another thread stemmed from her teeth; though this one was redder than the rest.
All the while, as what seemed to be predator against prey unfolded...
"(Man…)" Dumdum thought as he boinged around.
"(I really hope I hit myself soon… I think I'll be a bit shorter once I do, too...)"
"(Oh, there she is. I wonder if I'll hit her this time…)"
"(BÙ!)" Mei internally screamed, a sudden fastball ricocheting from behind to right in front of her. She spun through the air to dodge, only to witness another careening toward her.
She regained consciousness a millisecond later, preparing to hit a wall.
"(CÀO DÀN...!)"
She let loose threads. A dozen shot outward into the world from her hands, allowing her to flip and crouch onto it before she could go splat onto the stands' force field.
It was odd; she'd literally never felt so much like a bug.
"(Cool, I hit her!)" he celebrated. "(I don't hear a count, though… shoot, I should try to crash into myself now. I wanna start seeing my opponent again.)"
Mei caught her bearings, knowing full-well the fat bastard would try to shoot toward her… and yet he never did.
She looked back up, and he was still bounding around the arena.
"(Can he not…)"
It didn't matter. This was time. And she was running low on it as-is.
So she got back to weaving.
"(Almost there… I can feel it…)"
It took a bit longer than he would've liked, but Dumdum smacked himself back together.
"Oh, there you are."
[ BGM: Yoshihisa Hirano ‒ Hegemony of the Food Chain (Start-1:38) ]
Mei stared back, silent. Hands behind her back, feigning a demeaning posture.
"Woah, and you only lost 10% since then, too!"
Her incessant use of her nerve-zapping threads had taken a toll on her; she couldn't normally move that fast, of course, and her body and mind suffered for it.
"What of it?"
"I mean… I'd probably kill you if I hit you again. So can you leave? I just wanna win."
"I'd rather die. What of it?"
"But that's stupid."
"I am a fool. What of it?"
Dumdum groaned. "You're gonna be annoying about this, aren't you?"
Mei stared.
"What of it?"
"Whatever," he said as he fired a ki blast.
"(1 second. That is all I need.)"
The following was one of the longest seconds of her life.
The equivalent of 0.25 HP was lost after each dodge; if not for her threads, she'd've lost. Her skin was becoming red hot as it clashed with friction that her body shouldn't've been undergoing. All across the arena, the casual ki blasts shot like gunfire honing in on a hare on the run, and the whites of Mei's eyes had become dark red. She'd likely be mumbling for weeks after the battle.
0.5…
Dumdum started firing off more ki blasts, even a few targeted explosions that forced Mei to move fast enough to burn herself.
0.2…
A hundred, maybe a thousand, she didn't know anymore.
"(Wait, what am I doing?)"
Dumdum suddenly stopped.
"(Wow, I'm stupid!)"
Ki began pooling toward him.
Mei's brain recognized it immediately.
No pressure points to disrupt his ki or manipulate his body. He couldn't be staggered with any pain she could inflict. Not even cutting him would stop him.
In this isolated cage, this simple technique would be enough to invalidate everything she'd done.
She went higher. That's all she could do.
"(I don't think that'll work…)" Dumdum thought, before cutting loose.
It could level a forest, maybe. Any other finalist could've laughed it off.
Not her.
Before it reached her, in a last act of desperation, she cut beneath her, and a vector scythed through the air.
"Oh no, I didn't kill her, did I?" he worried, before peeping the health bars.
One, 99.7%.
The other, 3%.
Consciousness slowly seeped back into Mei.
"(Where...)"
A cloud briefly swallowed her. Only after dropping through its belly, did she remember.
She was falling.
With hazy eyes and a hazier mind, having never been so high in her life, she took in her surroundings.
"(For many years, I had wondered what existed in the sky. A splendid jade throne for the highest gods, a plane where the enlightened ascended, a world where the greatest warriors dined on peaches for all time.)"
Reality slipping through her fingers like sand, everything felt like a fever dream.
"(But there is nothing so elaborate. Only clouds.)"
[ BGM: Yuki Kaijuru ‒ In the Garden of Sinners ]
For the first time in maybe 2 minutes, but what felt like hours, she was in bliss. A tranquility foreign to her took hold, and she accepted sleep.
"(For all my pretentious scheming… to be defeated so simply… would be relieving.)"
Her hands slowly fell beneath her waist.
"...?"
But they failed to do even that.
She had not a lick of stamina left, and yet, they rose once more. Slowly, gradually, as if they were being…
"... cào dàn. Not even here… will you allot me rest."
In her lucid state, she saw them.
Larger hands, in an attire as old as her own, and a tad darker than her left hand.
They lifted her hands until they were above her waist.
And then the specter faded.
She smiled. "Fine."
She drew them together, now flipping her dual karana hand signs right-side up. They glowed orange-gold, alongside the web-like aura she now emitted.
"Enjoy your peaches from the clouds, leaf sucker."
From there, she released all higher thought, and delved into her own little world.
3!
2!
Dumdum sat on the edge of the arena, eating chips he made from a piece of the arena.
1! ZE-
Dumdum noticed the abrupt stop in the count.
"Huh?"
The spider had reappeared.
"Thread."
"Leaf."
"Cloth."
"Hair."
"Silk."
"Stalk."
Dumdum rose, appearing mildly inconvenienced, and shot a beam from his mouth, coating the upper sky in a pink cylinder.
Yet like a hot pin through butter, she seamlessly fell through it.
"Rock."
"Steel."
"Flesh."
"Bone."
"Nerve."
"Cell."
"Atom."
"Air."
After that and a couple hundred more ki blasts and beams, Dumdum threw caution to the wind and, from his hands, cast a magical beam committed to turning her aura into confetti.
It was cut.
"Space."
"Time."
"Bonds."
"Fate."
"Life."
"Death."
"Me."
"You."
This was what she'd been working toward.
Mei finally opened her eyes, and her aura disappeared.
And she entered a lucid dream.
[ BGM: Yuki Kaijuru ‒ Garden of Sinners, A Study in Murder; M40 ]
"Wǒ."
"Qiè."
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Millions of threads.
Springing from her aura, they numbered in such an amount, in such a minute area, in such a minute spans of time, they'd literally cut away from the space around them. In an erratic pattern expanding toward the sky, it took the appearance of a ground spider's web.
Chahan's level of Bisection could not be acquired in 6 months. 6 decades, for a prodigy like herself, would suffice.
But here, within this world where all senses were amped to absurd degrees, it came naturally.
The threads had become a part of her being; this world had literally cut itself away from complex concepts such as physics.
In this world, she simply cut.
And without words, that is what she did.
Vacant amber sockets opened.
[ BGM: Yuki Kaijuru ‒ Thanatos (8:27) ]
Mei shot forth.
Her opponent was cut.
Mei shot back.
Her opponent was cut.
With every new movement, a new cut.
She flowed through the threads, uninhibited by any force known. With every graze of a thread, she ascended above her former state of mind and body, and darted past, toward, and through her prey with speed that defied all law.
In that world, light itself was being exceeded.
Immobilized by the countless threads, being cut with every movement he attempted, the foe was unable to reform.
"(... I'm not regenerating at all…)"
His pieces had been severed, scattered across different sheets of space's fabrics without hope of rejoining. The incised portions couldn't regenerate by themselves, no matter how badly they wanted to; coupled with the constantly-biting strands all around, the attacker was constantly cutting without cease, halting all progress before it could begin with endless incisions and slashes at a level dimensions beneath microscopic and exceeding the purely-physical.
Differences in power had been deemed irrelevant; all that found themselves in this web were irreversibly damned.
A thousand impossibilities, a thousand miracles, all happening mere moments from each other, unending.
Yet it was quite simple, the current absurdity looping in upon itself.
All other factors ‒ bones, flesh, cells, lower molecules, the astral and physical, and all complexities ‒ had been utterly negated.
At that moment, every cut was absolute.
By a literal thread, bits of her opposition were now held together as she accelerated toward the peak of the web, a mere few hundred meters high. Rapidly, they were enwrapped in more and more threads, until a cocoon of infinite cuts encased the parts.
Had she just a tad less control, she would've cut the bite-sized segments to such a degree, they'd have no chance of ever regenerating; there would be nothing left to regrow.
But if she had a tad less control, this world of hers would not exist. Malice, hatred, rage, they'd been woven into the threads themselves, released from Mei.
As but a breathing cutlass, all she was left with was the concept of cutting.
And one final cut was in order.
She reached the peak in not a fraction, of a fraction, of a fraction, of a second, staring with dead amber eyes from an upside-down stance, directing her focus to the bottom of the nonsensical pocket, and the encased adversary below her.
"I…"
And then, she leapt.
"Cut."
From there, even the threads themselves…
Were cut.
Shooting from the massive swath in space, were microscopic pieces of Dumdum, landing across the grass around the arena.
And in the center, Xiao Mei.
Dumbfounded, not one spectator could answer with certainty what had just happened.
From the onlookers' perspective, Mei had fallen, only for she and Dumdum to suddenly disappear within an entangled golden mass. A second then passed, and… now this.
From frantically wriggling pieces of mass, Dumdum slowly regenerated to near-full, from 0 to 90%; though the fact that he was out of bounds meant it no longer mattered. All the while, Mei stood. Her own 3% dwindling, like a punctured jug.
But it failed to hit 0 before it blinked away altogether.
Chahan smiled warmly. "Absurd..."
IN WHAT COULD ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS THE MOTHER OF ALL UPSETS, STUDENT MEI HAS PULLED THROUGH! SHE ADVANCES TO THE QUARTER-FINALS!
It didn't matter to her.
"Only a hopelessly-reckless little fool like yourself..."
Because, now that there was nothing to cut, as she stood, she'd been rendered catatonic.
Consciousness was regained. Slowly, but surely.
"(Cut, cut, cut, cut… my head spins.)"
A migraine that could split Mt. Paozu was currently ripping through her skull. With a small grunt, she pushed herself up, clutching her forehead.
"3rd degree burns, minor brain hemorrhage, muscle tears, bone fractures, minor concussions, internal bleeding, and hundreds of minor lacerations."
She turned to the source of the rundown. The window sill revealed a woman in a light outfit ‒ slimmed down, but not too far from that of the purple old man design-wise ‒ and a bushy tail. Hanging off her neck was a card identifying her as "Bajikka."
"The fact the list isn't longer is scary. That's either some gruesome training or a miracle under your belt, kid."
"A... sai…"
The curious, almost shocked tone Mei held gave her healer a small ego boost.
"Yup. Not many saiyans care for a backseat role, but I took a liking to healing. Enough to become one of Conton's best, actually."
As if hearing an absurdity, Mei silently took in the info before she smiled a bit.
"Thank you."
Managing to discreetly pop her boast, Bajikka returned it.
"But you're pretty weird, yourself. I've never seen someone handle a majin like that. Dumdum was young, but... to see one struggle so much to regenerate... how'd you do it?"
"... I cut-"
The migraine nearly cracked what was left of her sanity. The medical saiyan began to walk over, but Mei's hand shot out to stop her.
"F-fine! I am..."
Unconvinced by either of Mei's claims, Bajikka gave a nod.
"It looks like rest is what you need most, right now. I'll take my leave."
After the brief exchange, Mei stared into space, reflecting.
"Still unrefined. Hours to ready my mind, a minute to ready my spirit, such a toll on my body. But..."
She slowly rose from the bed, walking to the window's light.
"For even a moment, it sheds my weakness. It is strong."
Her eyes widened.
"No. As any art of both Mantis Sect and Spider Shadow-Fist should..."
Mei's refracted smirk slowly slid up the glass.
"It surpasses strength."
[ ED: Pay Money To My Pain ‒ Weight of My Pride ]
POST-FIGHT COVERAGE! A WORD FROM OUR COMMENTATORS!
Ace puffed up his chest and beat upon it with a fist, then deflated and gave a thumbs up. He then tapped his head, then formed a ki-ball, tossed it back-and-forth, and raised it above his head and caused a small explosion. Putting up both forearms in karate-chop form, he started chopping only to shrug and shake his head, before pulling a forlorn face.
"Above all else, Ace enjoyed the sheer tenacity and feats of resolve on display throughout the fight's duration, very important aspects of a future time patroller. The display of techniques, however, was absolutely MIND-BLOWING in his eyes! Although sadly, this fight didn't have much in the CQC department."
Ace held up an 8.
Pudding maintained her cartoon cat-like smile.
"She struggled nicely! Still, it's a shame she had to fight a Majin! 4 out of 10!"
"Heh-heh, is that a bit of favoritism on Puddin's part?"
"Assumptions kill, Trunks!"
Trunks didn't know if he could laugh.
"... Alright, Goku!"
"My main gripe is how Dumdum-guy wouldn't take Chao... Shi... Shao... Mei seriously from go. Cockiness is a death sentence in battle, after all, and the fight could've ended sooner had he gone all-out. That said, his bouncy technique lets him bound off even the air, and the way he used it in tandem with his rubbery body worked wonders! But back to what I said about the fight ending sooner... even IF he'd gone all-out, I'm still confident that Mei would've held her own, with her savvy use of martial arts. I've never seen half of what she used in the fight, and each move was made with a purpose! The real icing on the cake was that thread technique, ESPECIALLY during the end! Let me tell you, using an ability that strains your body takes guts, and she showed that in spades! But winning against a Majin with a SLICING ability!? That's something else, entirely!"
Goku gave a thumbs up. "This one's getting an 8 out of 10 from me!"
Trunks nodded.
A 20/30 THIS TIME! STERN JUDGES, AS ALWAYS, BUT NOT HALF BAD FOR OUR FIGHTERS!
Yo! OP Here!
So I gave Mei a technique she can use like once per day, takes like a minute to prepare, and gives her a mini-coma after completion, thereby making her the strongest character in the series. The Ningen wank just doesn't stop with me, I know.
Nah, but seriously, that ability's something I've been thinking of for a while. Like, even before Chahan and Mantis Bisection were introduced, that's how long ago; those just gave me even more to work with in this regard. It's pretty much Mei's idea of a transformation, only instead of a power-up that takes an inconvenient amount of screaming, it's a Do-Or-Die that she'll be able to get off once every blue moon, but if she DOES get it off, she instantly wins; perfect for a Glass HF Blade like herself.
Most of its inspiration came from stuff like JJK's Domain Expansion and Fate's Reality Marble techs, funny enough; I was honestly going for Fate-like writing (That artsy Cut-Off Line spam was just me being pedantic, as usual) when I wrote her uh... it doesn't really have a name, yet. Anyway, I really enjoy deliveries seen in stuff like Fate and Baki. It gives everything a beautiful, mystical feel, and it makes everything seem as supernatural as it really is. I wanted to capture that a bit here.
Tentaijutsu is Shaori (HAHAHAHAHAHA SHAO) or Xiaoli (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA XIAO) from Baki, by the way. I'm not gonna act like it isn't. Still, I'm giving credit for first teaching me about Qinggong to Thunderbolt Fantasy; that's how I found the perfect way to work it into the series.
(Future OP Here: renamed it "Taikūjutsu" or "Sky Body Art/Empty Body Art" to emphasize connections to bukūjutsu, plus it sounds cooler.)
So on Dumdum: He's just one of Buu's 9 Papillion kids. He's chill. He bounces. He doesn't give fights too much thought. I made him as Mei's opp to give her the hardest of counters that she still creates a way to deal with. Because perseverance against unfair odds is cooler than mundane jobbers. Jobbers are highkey wastes of time to put in stories outside of comedic moments, though, right? There's having a character flick away a Whoeven, and there's showing actual growth through adversity. Hell, Kora was gonna be a jobber, and look at where she is.
...
I deadass regret not making that Kora and Archi chapter. Thinking of the other rifts the two could've gone through, elaborating on backstories, expanding upon ideals for both, showcasing how they've changed, IDK... maybe I'll just show it in a flashback pre-match, Sandrovich-style (that Terashi fight in Omega was ass, speaking of.) Would kill me if I wasted all that potential.
Okokok on more thing. Remember those fix-up dimensions Duel Scenarios have, cus they're kinda hybridizations of real combat and simulations? Well, I WAS gonna put them here to have characters heal up quick, but... if I did that, there would be literally nothing stopping the TP from equipping its patrollers with pocket transports or some shit to that dimension. Suddenly my story goes vegan, because all the potential steaks VA-TO-THE-FUCKING-MOOSE. Nah, now people are healed post-fights via graduating medics or, if it's that bad, one of 4 of Conton's many elite healers. Makes shit so much easier.
I have to think up names though. Still easier.
Long OP Talks, huh? Alright, I'll wrap this up. Next fight is Borderline Nihilist vs Stupid Idealist. Wanted it to be later, but this new tournament structure is mandatory.
That's about it. See ya next match.