The battlefield crackled with the remnants of energy as Raditz and Kress stood locked in a fierce confrontation. The air, charged with the remnants of their previous transformations, added an electric intensity to the atmosphere. Lightning danced across the sky, casting an erratic glow on the landscape below. They found themselves on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a chasm that seemed to stretch into the very heart of the planet. Jagged rocks jutted out from the sides. The distant rumble of thunder echoed the turmoil of the battle.
Kress, in his Super Kaio-ken form, eyed Raditz with a mix of excitement and anticipation. Raditz, having unleashed the mighty aura of Super Saiyan 3, glared back with a seasoned focus, acknowledging the impending conclusion of their hour-long clash. “You have to teach me how to make my hair super long when I win, okay?” Kress pointed at him. “I’d rather die. Again.” Raditz’s long hair flowed in the violent blowing winds.
Raditz lunged forward with a thunderous punch aimed at Kress's midsection. The air itself seemed to be torn apart as the seasoned Saiyan unleashed his full strength. However, Kress effortlessly sidestepped the attack, his body moving like a fleeting blur. Seizing the opening, Kress retaliated with a rapid series of kicks, aiming for Raditz's critical points. Raditz wasn’t some amateur who couldn’t learn in the midst of a battle. He allowed himself to get hit but, in exchange, locked Kress’s leg in between his armpit.
Kress’s hands lit up with a bright glow as he prepared himself to blast Raditz in the face multiple times over. Before he could do so, Raditz tossed him into a nearby cliff. The boy was engulfed inside before he could stop his aerial descent. To add insult to injury, Raditz rushed toward him, driving his foot into the boy's chest, further embedding him into the cliff. Now that he had him right where he wanted him, he unleashed a devastating combo on the young Saiyan.
A brutal left that sent blood flying out of Kress’s mouth. Followed up by a vicious right spraying blood in the opposite direction. Another knee that painted Raditz’s armor with a splat of red, and a sadistic smile as he held up his electrifying hand. “Begone!” An incredibly powerful energy wave shot out from his hand. “X10!” Kress shouted just as the attack engulfed him. Raditz looked in the direction of his attack to see if there was any trace of the brat left. He saw nothing and sensed… What?!
Kress appeared behind Raditz, grabbing him by the waist and dragging him down the cliff. He tightly locked his legs around his hair and torso as they descended down at supersonic speeds. Raditz flexed his muscles and even attempted to vaporize the boy by expelling his ki in a self-contained explosion. Yet, Kress instinctively shielded his own body as they were plummeting toward the ground. Raditz’s attempts to prevent this from happening did nothing but create a light show for those watching. The two screamed, one in horror while the other maniacally laughed.
Then they landed. The sheer force generated by their impact seemed to rupture a chunk of the planet! An invisible shockwave rippled outward, carrying with it the intensity of their combined power. The surroundings bore witness to the aftermath of this explosive convergence. Rocks were sent hurtling in all directions, propelled by the shockwave that emanated from the epicenter of their impact. The very ground beneath them quivered and cracked, unable to withstand the magnitude of the forces at play.
At the center of the incredibly deep crater lay Kress and Raditz. Kress released his grip on Raditz’s body as Raditz fell to the ground limp. No signs of life in his body. Not a heartbeat, a spike of ki, or even a twitch. “I won! I won! I won!” Kress happily cheered while bouncing about.
“Oh wait! I gotta get him to teach me how to freaking make my hair super long and cool!” Kress reached into his armor and pulled out another senzu bean as he restarted Raditz’s heart with a Kiai Defibrillation.
He fed the bean to Raditz when his heart was slowly beating again and watched as his body was healed to perfect health. Kress smiled at the older Saiyan. “I won! You gotta teach me how to make my hair longer now!” Raditz stared at the boy without a hint of emotion on his face as he just processed what happened.
“First, it was that fool Kakarot who tried sparing me. Now you. Are you looking down on me? Do you not think I wouldn’t kill you right now?” Raditz threatened with a brief zap of electricity around his palm.
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“You wanna go again?” Kress grinned at him. A small sense of excitement could be seen behind his eyes. “If you lose this time, you’ll have to be my new friend. My friends never last long, but I think you could do it if I'm careful.”
Raditz supposed this brat really was a product of that freak Turles. Those were the eyes of someone lacking a certain something. He remembered back then when he tried to join Turles’s Crusher Force for Vegeta. Those eyes were eerily similar to Turles’s back then. If Turles wasn’t the freak he was, he was sure he would’ve died then and there. Raditz wouldn’t have even been able to complain, either. He failed his mission and pathetically resorted to begging for his life to be spared.
“Forget it.” Raditz tossed off his broken armor as he turned away from the boy. “To become a Super Saiyan 3, you simply need to advance past Super Saiyan twice.” he began walking away.
“What does that mean?!” Kress scratched the back of his head as he returned back to his original form.
“Our Saiyan blood responds to a need, not a want. You need to have a need to elevate your power to this level. Nearly dying if you don’t become stronger worked for me. For a halfling freak like yourself, who knows? It might be easier.” Raditz explained, flying away.
Kress was still mostly confused, but that wasn’t Raditz’s fault. He should go over it with his Daddy. There wasn’t anything his dad didn’t know! But first, he had to brag about being the first to beat his guy to his siblings! With two fingers on his forehead, he went about sensing for their energies.
In an instant, Kress’s face sagged, and his body slumped in disappointment as he appeared next to his siblings. Were they already finished!? “How did you beat your guys so fast?! Did I get the strongest one!? No fair! I want a redo!” Kress whined. Stella and Bon teasingly laughed as they comforted their youngest brother. “Sounds like someone needs to train harder.” Stella played in his hair. “Don’t think I didn’t see you getting your butt kicked, Kress. You were the only one who needed to use a senzu bean in their fight. Do you know that?” Bon haughtily revealed.
“You saw that?” Kress groaned.
“No, duh. I was done in like a minute.” Bon bragged.
“I really did pick the strongest guy, dang it!” Kress angrily stomped the ground.
“Good work, Kress.” Basil placed his hand on Kress’s shoulder. “I’m not happy you tried using Super Saiyan and Kaio-ken together after hearing how dangerous it was from Father, but I see it worked out for you in the end.”
“You don’t think Daddy is going to be mad at me, right?” Kress hesitantly asked.
“I’ll go ask him!” Stella excitedly shouted at the possibility of getting her youngest brother in trouble for once. She flew towards Turles’s ki.
“NO! STOP!” Kress tackled his sister before she could make it far.
The two started brawling while Bon and Basil watched. “Why do you think Daddy made us fight those weaklings?” Bon asked. “I believe it was to help Stella and Kress gain more fighting experience.” Basil guessed. “We don’t have a large list of people willing to help us grow stronger, and the universe is becoming a more peaceful place now that Father is changing things for the better.”
“Isn’t there like a huge rebellion still going on in the universe or something?” Bon questioned.
“Well, there are still planets refusing to submit to the Planet Trade Organization… But their power levels aren’t high enough to be a genuine threat to us,” Basil explained.
“Oh, those two were strong and willing to fight Stella and Kress. Now I get it!” Bon exclaimed.
“They’re only going to get even stronger after today since they decided to let both of them live,” Basil added.
“Lucky them.” Bon rolled her eyes.
She still wanted payback on that ghost lady. If her daddy hadn’t told her how much stronger she was going to become the next time they met, she would’ve already teleported to Heaven to beat her face in. Going straight back after getting just strong enough would make her seem kind of like a loser, though. Bon decided she’d wait till the lady was prepared to fight for her freedom to live. If Kress didn’t do it first, that is. She refused to waste her time with the ghost lady if she couldn’t even defeat her baby brother.
“Our universe is a big place, sister. You’ll find someone to make your rival one day.” Basil reminded her. “That isn’t me.” He added.
“Like a dork like you could ever be my rival.” Bon snorted.
She didn’t know what was wrong with her brother. He had all this potential, but he didn’t even like fighting! What a waste! But, she would live up to their father’s expectations in his place.