then paragraphs. Ensure paragraph mapping. Let's do.Chapter 15: A Hard-Fought Battle ### Even though he knew the thing's weakness was its core, damn it, the core was the same color as its body!! Tights must have hit it by chance just now, which was why it had reacted that way.
"Forget it. I'll try attacking first!!" Karochi stopped overthinking and assumed a fighting stance.
He used High-Speed Movement and vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was right in front of the mimic! He threw a punch at the spot Tights had attacked earlier.
Bang~!
The enemy showed no intention of defending itself. Instead, it immediately threw a punch of its own!!
Trading blows? But this thing couldn't even be hurt!! Damn it, whatever.
Karochi neither dodged nor flinched. He took the punch head-on as his own fist struck the intended spot. Both of them were sent flying hundreds of meters.
"Cough, cough, cough~!" Karochi got up and coughed violently. The enemy's punch had packed quite a wallop, and even after taking it head-on, he couldn't help spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"Karochi, how are you?? Are you okay!!!" Tights's anxious voice reached his ears, her worry plain to hear.
He spat out the blood in his mouth and wiped the blood from the corner of his lips before replying, "Don't worry, Big Sis Tights. I'm fine." In this situation, he could only report the good news and hide the bad.
Fine, my ass. He had broken two or three ribs! With injuries like these, he couldn't focus well enough to fight.
While Tights couldn't see him, Karochi secretly ate a Senzu Bean. He always carried four or five of the things in case of emergencies!! He hadn't expected to need them on this trip to Bemos.
"Judging by its reaction just now, the enemy's core must have moved somewhere else!!" Karochi sighed. The only information he'd gotten from trading blows was a bit of a rip-off.
The sound of rapid typing came from Tights's end. She spoke through the communicator at the same time: "That's right. Its core is moving around inside its body! The missile I fired earlier had a tracker attached to it. I'll modify the power-level counter. Hold on a little longer."
Holy crap!! A tracker?? You're amazing, sis!!! Karochi was overjoyed.
Just then, a fist punched through the smoke and came hurtling toward him.
The enemy's body was nowhere to be seen, only its fist, and its arm had stretched out abnormally far! Strange black energy surrounded its entire arm and fist.
Did you eat the Rubber-Rubber Fruit or something?! Karochi couldn't help thinking. This thing could stretch and shrink freely? That was ridiculous.
He dodged to the side and used Ki Burst to blow away the smoke around him!
The enemy's eyes glowed with an eerie red light, and black energy poured from its entire body!! It made Karochi deeply uncomfortable, especially since it was using his own appearance.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but the thing seemed a little like the Shadow Dragons from Dragon Ball GT. But those had been created by the negative energy produced when people made wishes on the Dragon Balls!!
The Shadow Dragons had emerged because negative energy built up after too many wishes.
This Yitai Wonder probably wasn't the same thing, right? If it were negative energy from the Dragon Balls, it couldn't possibly be this weak. So this was probably just a mass of negative energy!!
Karochi thought as he fended off the mimic's attacks.
Bang~! Bang~! Bang!
The sounds of their clashes rang out without pause as the two kept darting around! The surrounding ground was battered into a chaotic mess of craters.
Karochi seized an opening and kicked the enemy more than a hundred meters away. But as it flew, its arm stretched out and punched him in the face!
Pain shot through him, and Karochi went flying too!! Damn it, why did everyone love aiming for my face? Had I ever hit yours? No, right??
"Karochi, does it hurt!!!?" Tights called out, sounding as if she were teasing him. Before he could protest, she opened the aircraft's door and tossed him the counter. "I've finished modifying it. Put it on and you'll be able to see the enemy's core!"
Karochi was overjoyed. He hurriedly caught it, put it on, and switched it on!!
The first thing displayed was the enemy's power level: 10,750. Tsk, it had already broken the ten-thousand mark!! His own power level was probably about the same. Then a small purple dot appeared inside its body, moving around and changing positions. It wasn't moving very quickly.
"Good, it's finally my turn to counterattack!!"
Karochi steadied himself and charged in, engaging the enemy again! He had to watch carefully and wait until the core moved somewhere he could easily attack.
The purple dot moved slowly until it reached the chest! Now! Karochi had already been hit more than a dozen times while tracking the core, and his whole body was covered in wounds.
But it was worth it. He brought the fingers of his left hand together, and points of light gathered between them.
[Energy Blade]
This was a close-range, single-target cutting technique he had adapted from Krillin's Destructo Disc. The blade was sixty centimeters long, with a bright blue core wrapped in a white cutting edge of ki!
The ki edge wasn't still; it flowed at incredible speed, though it looked motionless from the outside.
He thrust it straight at the core, aiming for the heart. The enemy seemed to realize what Karochi intended. Its normally expressionless face actually showed a humanlike flash of panic.
The enemy suddenly unleashed its ki, enveloping itself in dark, ink-colored flames as if trying to block the fatal strike!!
Too bad for it. Karochi's Energy Blade was specifically designed to pierce protective ki. This level of defense was no better than paper in its path. After all, in the original story, Krillin had a power level of only around twenty thousand, yet his Destructo Disc had sliced off the tail of Frieza's second form, whose power level exceeded a million.
The blade ripped through the defense and struck the core.
Aaaaagh~!
A roar rang out, as if the enemy were in agony, and a blinding burst of black light exploded from its chest! It shot out in every direction.
Karochi had already darted away. The black energy made him deeply uncomfortable, and he didn't want even a speck of it touching him.
Boom~!
The mimic of Karochi exploded, sending a huge cloud of smoke billowing into the sky.
How did it go? Karochi and Tights stared fixedly at the smoke.
After all, the Dragon Ball world had three great rules: 1. The one who fires a beam struggle from the left always loses. 2. If there's smoke, there's no injury. 3. Never have a beam struggle with a member of the Son family.
The rule about being unharmed when there was smoke was pretty reliable. The bigger the smoke cloud, the smaller the damage!! That was common knowledge.
When the smoke finally cleared and the mimic was nowhere to be seen, Karochi let out a long breath.
Looks like he'd already disproven two of the three rules. Back when he'd fought Shadow, he'd been full of confidence, thinking he had the advantage with his right hand. Then he'd gotten beaten until he questioned his life.
This time, there was smoke and the enemy had turned to ash. It was probably dead for good.
"So maybe one day I'll be able to have a beam struggle with someone from the Son family. Maybe I could even win!!" Karochi murmured.
"What Son family??" Tights asked, sounding puzzled. There was a noticeable hint of relief in her voice.
After all, the battle had been terrifying!! She'd been so overwhelmed by the beating that she hadn't known what to do.
She still had no idea what that Yitai Wonder thing was.
But none of that mattered now. Karochi was safe, and that was what counted. He really had worked hard this time!
She'd make it up to her annoying little brother later.
"It's nothing, Big Sis Tights. Let's head back, okay? This planet is so weird, it gives me the creeps." Karochi changed the subject. Goku hadn't grown up yet! The only member of the Son family around was Son Gohan.
Picking a fight with an old man would be embarrassing!
"Little brat, catch me!!" Tights called out, then put away the aircraft.
She dropped straight down. Tsk! Big Sis Tights was really fearless. That was way more thrilling than bungee jumping.
Karochi didn't dare dawdle. He caught her in midair, perfectly cradling her in his arms.
Smack~!
He felt a little moisture on his cheek.
Huh? Had he been ambushed again?? Karochi stared at Tights in confusion. What was that for? He could let her manhandle him while he was a kid, but if she started kissing him, he'd have to call the police!
"What? You looked like you'd worked so hard, so I rewarded you. What's with that look? Oh~ You want that little girl Lazuli to kiss you, don't you!" Tights wasn't embarrassed at all, and her face hadn't even turned red.
What was wrong with kissing her little brother? It wasn't against the law, was it? And it was only on the cheek!
"Tsk, Big Sis Tights, that's a dangerous way to think. You're really asking for trouble!" Karochi laughed. Anyone with weird thoughts about little girls was a pervert.
He, Karochi, was definitely not a pervert. He was a fine young man who'd been born under the red flag and grown up in a new world!
He'd lived two lives and was still a virgin!!
"Enough, I'm done arguing with you!" Tights took out the aircraft they'd arrived in.
The two of them climbed inside again!!
Before long, they were back in the spaceship, and a wave of exhaustion swept over Karochi.
He fell fast asleep before he'd even left the aircraft.
He'd been through a hard-fought battle, and his body still bore plenty of wounds left by the mimic!!
Since no more battles were likely to happen, he didn't plan on using a Senzu Bean!
Healing slowly was a way to grow, too. Senzu Beans were cheap, but they still felt a little too good to be true.
After all, they were grown using Ultra Divine Water, which contained a 'poison' that brought out one's potential! Senzu Beans seemed to restore you by drawing on that potential.
It was better to use them as sparingly as possible!!
Tights couldn't carry Karochi. She was on the slender side, so she called over a service robot to help.
Seeing his injuries, Tights couldn't help feeling a little heartache!
"Good thing there's a healing tank on this spaceship!!" Dr. Brief had designed a Healing Tank specifically for treating injuries.
It looked more or less like Frieza's, with the patient submerged in medicinal fluid and masks covering the ears, nose, and mouth!!
"You really worked hard this time!!" Tights's voice echoed through the cabin, but Karochi was already in a deep sleep and never heard her.
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