Pinching his nose between his thumb and forefinger, Tabu inhaled slowly and deeply, filling his lungs before allowing himself a long exhale. If he hadn’t just arrived on this world and didn’t want to tap into his known funds in fear of being tracked, then he would have flown off long ago. Sadly, the universe had never conformed to his desires. The Namekian cleared his throat loudly, cutting off his potential employer’s panicked flood of words.

“Alright alright. Say it again. Slowly this time, please: I can’t do anything for you if I don’t even know what you’re asking for.”

The fat human nodded rapidly, sweat pouring down his brow as he dabbed at it with a handkerchief. The man was the commander of the small USD base that Tabu had passed through soon after he arrived on this planet. While Tabu had no love for the organization (their failure to repel the PTO after several years wasn’t exactly a shining example of their competence), even his pessimism had to admit that their ability to collect information was second to few. What he hadn’t expected, however, was to be contacted only a few short hours after leaving his contact information at the base, only to return to mounds of burning wreckage and an entire battalion of emergency craft, working desperately to extract trapped workers from the fiery prisons their buildings had become. The commander was clearly trying hard to keep it together, and failing badly.

“It was all so..sudden. A class 3 ki signature suddenly appeared on our detectors, breaching our airspace with no hail or warning. When we couldn’t get in contact with them, a few of the younger boys panicked and fired a few warning shots a little too close.”

The man gritted his teeth, eyes unsettled.

“My good Namekian, a rocket went into its head and exploded, only for it to reform like putty. The rest….is as you see here. So please, bring this monster back dead or alive to face justice.”

The commander gestured towards the flaming wreckage, the destroyed buildings and weapon emplacements. It would be months before his base was operational again, and Tabu could clearly see the anger burning in the man’s eyes. While the Namekian was privately on the side of the mysterious intruder, as he would have probably done something similar (if less extreme) if attacked unprovoked, pay was pay after all.

“Fine, I’ll bring you back your boogeyman. Just ensure you honor your side of the contract, I don’t think you’d like to make another powerful enemy today for little reason.”

---

It took Tabu the better part of an hour to locate this mysterious warrior, and when he did the Namekian cursed his luck once again. Tabu had expected the attacker to be a majin after the commander’s report, but a small part of him had hoped otherwise. The few Tabu had encountered had been devilishly hard to neutralize, and he doubted this one would be any different. Thankfully, he had a small power advantage over the being, but not be much. The Namekian cleared his throat loudly.

“I suppose you’re the amateur demolitionist I’ve been hearing about? You’ve made a very rich man very angry you know.”

A bit unprofessional to spoil his element of surprise perhaps, but Tabu shrugged to himself. There was no way for this warrior to escape him, so why did it matter?

---

WC: 563
TWC: 563

Tabu wasn’t sure what he expected out the Majin, but it certaintly wasn’t to simply keep on sleeping. Perhaps his choice of lifestyle influenced his expectations, but he would have thought the detection of a large ki signature and the sound of someone speaking would have been easily enough to awaken a warrior of this creature’s power level. With a flicker of ki, the Namekian extended a finger, firing a weak ki blast into the dirt by what he thought was the creature’s ear.

Starting awake, the creature still didn’t seem to realize the situation it was in, asking some inane question about….fairy wings?

“What in Porunga’s name is a fairy? And why would I have fairy wings in the first place?” Tabu asked incredulously, caught up in the ridiculousness for a moment. “Do you realize what kind of situation you’re in?”

Coughing slightly, the Namekian fought for composure. He was a professional after all, and professionals had standards. “Forget it, not important. My name is Tabu, and I was asked by the humans you attacked a few hours ago to retrieve you. Are you coming quietly, or do we do this the fun way?” Tabu asked, his voice filled with malice.

The Namekian allowed his ki to surge forth slightly in an accompaniment to his words, trying to convey to the child-like creature that he wasn’t joking. As far as Tabu was concerned, this whole situation was already a headache and a half. The sooner he could ring the Majin in, the better.

---

WC: 254
TWC: 817

PL: 3,085
Health: 6,170
Stamina: 4,627
Ki: 7,712

A vein visibly pulsed in the Namekian’s forehead in response to the Majin’s words. This wasn’t at all the way Tabu had envisioned this contract: he hadn’t accounted for his target to be so…unbothered. Normally, Tabu’s biggest advantages in his line of work lay in the physiological and the cerebral rather than the physical.

“As I was saying, you apparently attacked a USD base earlier. They offered me a lot of money to-“ Tabu tried again, before simply sighing deeply and shaking his head. “You know what? Forget it. Never was long-winded enough for the big intimidating speeches. Let’s just get to the fun part.”

This blue Majin was putting him so off-balance that the Namekian was somewhat at a loss for words, unsure of his next move. He could engage of course, but something about his foe made him wonder if that was really the best id-

And in an eyeblink, she was in his face.

The sheer surprise of the moment momentarily stunned Tabu, causing the merest second of hestitation as the chaotic Majin’s words flowed into his ears. However, Tabu was also not a complete fool, and even as the Majin moved in close for her attempted surprise attack, Tabu was already hastily channeling the power of the magic within. With a quick muttered incantation, the ki blast would reverse its direction almost immediately after leaving Liari’s mouth, flying straight back down her throat if it was not defended against. For his part, Tabu dashed backward at high speed, attempting to get some distance between him and his foe. The Namekian wanted to know what kind of tricks this Majin had up her sleeve: there was no point in getting in close until he was sure he had all the cards.

“Some game you got there. My turn now, catch!”

Thrusting his palm forward, Tabu focused his mind, and with a quick mutter of “Lach”, several intensely hot fireballs about the size of hen’s eggs would appear out of thin air, launching themselves forward at Liari! The Namekian wasn’t done however and would follow up this initial barrage with a mouth-beam of his own, attempting to skewer the Majin directly through the chest.

---

WC: 366
TWC: 1183

PL: 3,085
Health: 6,170
Stamina: 4,627
Ki: 7,558/7,712

Tabu now at mid-range if not intercepted.
Basic action 1: Flavored Ki blast 1 as TK'ing Liari's blast back into her mouth (154 damage for 77 ki)
Basic action 2: Tabu launches a fire ball barrage and then a mouth beam! (154 damage for 77 ki)

Tabu grunted in annoyance as his surprise counter did little more than remind him just how weird Majin biology was. Normal sapients didn’t just walk off a burning-hot ki blast exploding in their intestines looking like they had just sampled Changeling demon fish. If he wanted to win this fight, it was clear he would need to step it up a notch. Thankfully, the Namekian wasn’t without his own evolutionary quirks.

However, as Liari complained about Tabu’s conduct, the Namekian was already retreating, leaving naught but a snort and a taunt in his place. “Ah right. The rules. Funny that I don’t remember you bringing those up gum girl. Am I supposed to just sit here and let you punch me?” Tabu could honestly care less about the Majin’s definition of fair (other than what it was doing to his blood pressure), anyone who tried to define combat in a predefined way was just asking to get punched in the face. How did this Majin get so strong without knowing something so simple? It was maddening.

His pique, however, didn’t distract him from the task at hand, and especially not from how the Majin easily wove through his storm of fireballs like it was nothing. Thankfully, not even his foe’s agility could save her from being speared through the chest by his coup de grace. For a moment, Tabu was elated, until all of his hard work was regenerated with comical ease. “Forgot about that. Shit.” He muttered, before the Majin blurred into motion, closing the distance and hitting the Namekian with a brutal hook before he could fully react. Head aching, Tabu flared his kit to halt himself, before charging full speed back at his foe.

The Namekian would open with a devastating barrage of punches and kicks, targeted mainly at the Majin’s limbs and joints. If he was to use his own biology as a baseline, those should be the hardest things to regenerate, and hopefully would drain the most energy from his opponent. With a yell, the Namekian would attempt to finish the combination with a brutal axe kick, hopefully sending the Majin flying back towards the loamy earth.

Regardless of this tactic’s success however Tabu’s fist began to glow a brilliant gold, before his arm extended forward, the elasticity of his limbs granting velocity past what his raw speed could grant him. An golden hydra head would materialize around the appendage, hopefully slamming into the Majin and causing enormous damage!

---

WC: 413
TWC: 1596

PL: 3,085
Health: 6,040/6,170
Stamina: 3,559/4,627
Ki: 7,558/7,712

Basic action 1: Liari’s hook flat taken due to the surprise! (130 damage taken)
Basic action 2: Tabu hits Liari with a basic melee! Flavored as a barrage of physical stikes aimed at (what he thinks) are her weak points (154 damage for 77 ki)
Action: [OT1/Physical] Hydra Lash! 33% damage for 1018 damage! Due to the Namekian flexibility racial, that brings the stamina cost to 1068 and the cost to dodge 1119 stamina!

For the first time since this encounter began, it began to feel like an actual fight. The Majin was strong and wicked fast, and was surprisingly skilled as well despite her childlike demeanor. The clash of their punches and kicks erupted like thunder across the wasteland, blending into one another with the sheer frequency of their clashes. Unlike those with more conventional biology , every part of the majin’s body was a weapon and something to watch for. A right straight that Tabu predicted and thought he parried turned into a hammer-like appendage, nearly taking his head off. A roundhouse that Tabu aimed at the Majin’s midsection ghosted past as his foe’s chest unnaturally distorted, folding into itself to avoid the blow. It was strange, it was a little disgusting, but for the first time in months, Tabu gradually let himself enjoy the thrill of the fight. Despite his best efforts, annoyance and focus slowly melted away to reveal a feral grin that began to spread across his face.

“For someone who thinks this is a game you can sure hit hard blue one. Still, don’t think I’m simply going to roll over for you!”

Slowly, Tabu began to gain the advantage, and with a mighty roundhouse that reverberated across his body, the Majin was sent flying. Its wounds were already healing of course, that much the Namekian had expected, but he had to be doing something right? If beings such as these were invincible, then they would have already conquered the universe. There HAD to be a weakness, and Tabu would be the one to discover it.

Tabu’s ki erupted as he EXPLODED forward, his right arm lengthening to twice its size, then three times. The Hydra Fist technique was something Tabu was quietly very proud of, as it allowed him to overcome his poor fine ki control with sheer, overwhelming energy density. Liari’s strike was powerful as well, causing the yellow hydra head to dim significantly until it was just barely visible, but the result was a foregone conclusion. With a final surging effort, Tabu BLEW a hole clean through Liari’s fist, hitting his foe hard in the chest and sending the child-like warrior into the earth below, screaming like a banshee all the while. Even after several seconds, the blue warrior did not emerge from the crater, nor did her ki signature move that much, despite its continued strength.

“Well….that was strangely easy.”

Suspicious, the Namekian would slowly descend to the ground below, carefully placing himself on one of the few remaining parts of the terrain that hadn’t been completely rent apart by their repeated clashes. It was simply inconceivable that a creature with his target’s level of regeneration would have been severely damaged out by such a pathetic aftershock: even Tabu himself could have regenerated such damage in a mere instant. Perhaps she was simply unaware to of his ability to sense the ki of others? Surely she could not be that foolish.

However, when the Majin’s ki rocketed towards him a millisecond later, Tabu’s suspicions were all but confirmed. Placing his palms against the hard earth, Tabu prepared to use his telekinetic powers to use the very rock itself to crush his foe into blue jelly. It was unfortunate that it had to end this way, but Tabu saw no advantage in prolonging this conflict.

It was this complacency that left him completely unprepared for the hands that closed around his ankles, pinning him in place for the massive energy blast that enveloped him a millisecond afterward. For a few seconds, the only clue that Tabu had survived the blast were the screamed profanities emanating from the center of the beam, before the Majin cut off the beam.

It was a very crispy Tabu that glared at Liari with something approaching towering rage. His customary attire was scorched and singed, his red cloak looking like it had been used to smother a bonfire. Burns covered his crossed arms, and, to a lesser degree, most of his visible flesh, a last-second defense that had saved him from the worst of Liari’s surprise attack. Even as the Majin would watch, however, the wounds slowly began to disappear, turning from a burned black to the pale green of Tabu’s normal flesh.

“Right. I’m done with this now, time to bring you in for real. Chwini, O Lach!”

Tabu’s ki erupted in response to his fury, even as his entire boy erupted with white hot flame, beginning at his skin and exploding outward like a tidal wave of heat and light. If Liari didn’t guard herself properly, the fires would burn the hands grasping his legs to cinders, before striking the rest of her body to give her much the same injuries Tabu himself had just received.

A second behind this attack was a devastating flying knee aimed at the Majin’s face, the opener for a brutal series of flaming elbow strikes and hard punches designed to inflict as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible. This time, Tabu was clearly treating this fight like his life was on the line.

---

WC: 853
TWC: 2449

PL: 3,085
Health: 6,014/6,170
Stamina: 2,729/4,627
Ki: 6,450/7,712

Battle Information:

Basic action 1: Flying knee! (Basic Melee for 154 damage and 154 stamina)
Basic action 2: C-c-c-combo! (Basic Melee for 154 damage and 154 stamina)

Action 1: Mouth-Blast tanked and split 75%/25% health/stamina, taking him down to 5,397 health and 3345 stamina. Used the Namekian regen racial to regenerate his health back up to 6014 and his stamina down to 3.037.

Action 2: Fired off [OT1/Ranged] Whirl, O Flame (33%)! 1018 ki cost for 1018 damage! Flavored as Tabu channeling the spell as a short-ranged explosion and then a temporary coating of flame (non-mechanical)

Some small part of Tabu that wasn’t completely, totally enraged felt bad about what he was about to do to the blue girl. If he was honest, this whole situation was never really her fault in the first place, more of the USD for taking potshots at someone with enough pow The world is changed; I can feel it in the water, I can feel it in the earth, I can smell it in the air.er to level cities. If it wasn’t for him having a bad day and the lingering frustration of being trapped on Earth while his ship was repaired, Tabu probably wouldn’t have escalated the situation anywhere close to this far. However, he had, and so he would finish things his way.

Tabu felt a glow of satisfaction as his spell craft finally seemed to inflict lasting damage on his foe, despite her best efforts to avoid it. The Namekian had begun to fear that the Majin’s regeneration was omnipotent to someone of his level, but it seemed like that was not the case, Was it the magic, or is it just that I need to hit her hard enough to tax her body’s ability to instantly heal it away. Tabu thought to himself, before angrily tossing the thought away. Now wasn’t the time for him to overanalyze his every action, now was the time to make the Majin understand that he wasn’t to be belittled and made fun of! Tabu’s punches and kicks flowed like and crashing river onto the body of his enemy, quick as a viper, and unpredictable as one. Flipping backward to gain some distance, Tabu stretched his hands towards the crippled majin, amber ki sparked to life in his palms as he prepared to unleash another barrage of attacks.

And then she screamed.

Despite himself, Tabu SCREAMED as he clamped his hands down hard on his ears, agony surging through him like something physical. The sound was louder than almost any he had ever heard, overwhelming his powerful hearing and causing his aura to fade to nothing as the Namekian almost completely lost his concentration. It was all he could throw up a weak ki-barrier around his body to shield himself from the Majin’s revenge, taking a flying knee of his own straight to his aching head.

The Namekian trajectory sent him crashing head-first into a mountainside, causing Tabu to spit up purplish-black blood from the sheer force of the impact. Groaning, Tabu extended one shaking hand, drawing a strange sigil on the air itself with his ki.

The Majin’s mouth blast arrived a second later, EXPLODING with the force of a large warhead, completely obliterating a good chunk of the mountainside. For a moment, all the Majin would be able to see was dust and rubble. Was she finally successful? Could Tabu have been killed so easily?

“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to be a little quieter when you fight. Then again, I suppose that's not really in your nature.”

The wheezing voice appeared from behind Liari, even as Tabu’s body slowly re-materialized from the ethereal plane it had been transferred to. It was not a technique Tabu could sustain for very long, but it had got him out of some pretty bad scrapes before and seemed to have done so again.

“Hydra Lash!”

Not giving the Majin any room to breathe, Tabu once again would activate his signature technique, this time coating both of his fists in the amber energy and utilizing the flexibility of his arms to swing them at the Majin like gigantic whips. The energy expenditure was harsh, but Tabu needed to put the Majin down NOW, before she pulled out any more tricks. With his greatest weakness revealed, this battle was quickly growing to the point where his victory was no longer certain....

---

WC: 638
TWC: 3087

PL: 3,085
Health: 5754/6,170
Stamina: 2,729/4,627
Ki: 3,458/7,712

Basic attacks flat taken (-260 health!)

Basic Actions:
N/A
Standard Actions:
1. [DT1] Dimensional Isolation used to dodge the mouth blast (-856 ki) 
2. [OT1/Physical] Hydra Lash! Boosted by namekian racial (1018 damage, 1119 to dodge, -1068 ki)
3. [OT1/Physical] Hydra Lash! Boosted by namekian racial (1018 damage, 1119 to dodge, -1068 ki)

“Skill, experience, take your pick. You have strength blue one, I would be a fool to deny, but you use it like a cudgel, blind to the infinite subtleties of its use. Perhaps you could have defeated me with time, but you made one essential mistake.”

“You pissed me off.”



A Hydra Lash-fueled uppercut caught the Majin square on the chin as she was preparing another one of those stupidly powerful mouth blasts of hers, interrupting the attack and causing the ki to disperse into nothing before it could attain the density to be dangerous. The blue Majin tried other attacks, other motions, but each time one of Tabu’s mighty fists was there to interrupt it, cutting each attempt off before it could really get started. Eventually, the Majin had simply burned up too much energy, too much to maintain her bodily form. Resembling a bunch of gel someone had repeatedly slammed a pot into, the Majin slumped to the bottom of the crater Tabu’s fists created, utterly exhausted.

Exhaling deeply, Tabu calmed his aura until it vanished, leaving naught but the destroyed landscape around them as evidence that any form of combat had occurred at all. The Namekian descended to the bottom of the crater, nudging at the goo with one booted foot. There was no response other than a minuscule stirring of what used to be the Majin’s body, even now attempting to reform itself from the terrible damage that had been inflicted upon it. Seems I finally did it, thought the damn thing would never give up. Still, no reason to let that annoying blue brat any chance at trickery. Removing the red cloth from his waist, Tabu gathered the goo onto the cloth, tying it up like a picnic lunch he had seen some of the Earthlings carry around. First, he would deliver the package securely to his employers and receive his payment. Then…..he needed a shower.

---

[EXIT]
Final WC: 3410