Ah, Paozu. Liari never quite understood what people saw in this place. Sure, it was pretty enough, what with the mountains peaking and troughing like the scales of a dragon, but there was next to nothing to DO here. Even the sound of this place, if you could find one, implied the peace and tranquility of the area, somewhere people would go if they needed to get away from "it all." So, for what purpose would Liari come to this place? Was her boredom so deep that she could only find joy in irony? Was she finally coming around to the Earthlings' way of doing things and seeking meaning in peace? Could it be that there was still some nugget of goodness inside of her and it was driving her to the most quiet, calming place on the planet?
       
    ...Hardly. Liari had no such "noble pursuits. One might say a slight twinge of paranoia had been the culprit. No matter how hard Liari searched, both physically and through her energy-sensing, she couldn't find that sayain again. She was CERTAIN someone like Athren, he whose power was so great that he could challenge her alone, would have been easy to spot! A diamond amongst sand, a light in the darkness, an island in the ocean... or whatever analogy you would care to make. She had EXPECTED that, if he was on this blasted world, she would've been able to sense it by now... 
   

    So... Did he leave? Liari couldn't believe he had left the planet without her knowing it... She had pieces of herself everywhere, each one acting like a beacon or a sensory-net, scanning the planet a chunk-at-a-time for any significant power signatures! ...Nothing. Everyone was gone. It wasn't so much that Liari cared they were gone but... HOW they were gone. How did they get away? people didn't just BLINK out of existence like that! Could it be that they were hiding their energy, moving so expertly as to not alert her net? ...The mere thought sent the faintest of chills up her spine. The moment she had achieved control, all of her toys had simply picked themselves up and went home, so it seemed... and that sort of defiance would've been unnerving to any self-proclaimed dominator. Something was wrong here... VERY wrong... And so, for the moment, the Majin would stay on the down-low. Liari sat upon one of the taller spires in the Mount Paozu range, her legs crossed beneath her with her tail resting across her lap. Like a panopticon, her attention rotated around the planet in search of SOMETHING of note. Of course, the planet still had fighters. She saw Shen ranting at one of his latest students... she saw a man with a turtle-shell, perhaps as archaic as her old master, reading some magazine, She saw a tower that climbed far into the heavens... higher than Liari herself cared to travel... Perhaps she would find her way up there one day before she destroyed this planet. It was something to check off of her list, anyway.
   
    "...This is foolish." Liari concluded, rising to her feet. "...I'm not going to sit here and wait for something to happen. I may be the strongest NOW... but who knows what those morons are doing... wherever they are. They may be training... training to kill ME. Yes, that must be where they all went... Somehow, they left this world, FLED because they were afraid! They KNEW they couldn't defeat me and so... they hid somewhere I couldn't find them." Liari's lips curled into a smirk. "...Idiots. Did they think there wouldn't be consequence for their cowardice...? Did they think I would just sit here and WAIT for them to surpass me? NO. I am POWERFUL. I am the STRONGEST. That will NEVER change. I will make them MELT under the sheer ferocity of my POWER! Just you wait, Athren. I will CRUSH you the next time you show your cowardly face... And you too, Zerori... and YOU Quash! Yes, Quash... You were the first... and you will BURN the brightest when I'm done! I-" Liari froze, her body jerking to a halt as if something was holding her back! An image of a man, his arms clamped around her flashed across her vision, the ghost of an energy-signature flashing across her systems!

    "You..." Liari rumbled, glancing over her shoulder! It was Kombu, the very first man she had absorbed! He clung to her tightly, pinning her arms against her body, holding her still with more strength than he EVER had when he was alive! "...You DARE resist me?"

    "Of course I do." He said flatly. "You were my friend once. What happened to you?"

    "I grew UP!" Liari growled, letting loose a MASSIVE energy-pulse, throwing the image back! Liari would turn to face Kombu, cracking her knuckles as her eyes flashed red. "...I grew up and I realized just what a worthless child I was. Weak... STUPID... and ignorant. I could barely speak and I assumed everyone could be my friend if we punched each other enough. ...Then I realized something: I would never have to be weak or childish again if I took everything I wanted from the people around me. Imagine... A revelation so simple could turn me into something so... impressive." Liari ran a hand down her figure to emphasize her point. "...Though, I never expected you, someone I assumed long-since digested, to be the first to rebel."

    "That's because, just like before, you never pay attention." Kombu growled, his aura bursting to life all around him! "I had a home here... I had a family and you took me from it all. For that, I will never forgive you."

    "Oh, please. Spare me the heroics and revenge speeches. We both know what you want... Come and get some, sayain dog." ...And like that, Kombu's fury ignited. He lunged for Liari, disappearing just as the majin's fist nearly collided with his nose! A flash of color zipped across Liari's vision and arched around her, the majin turning in time to bat away a punch shooting for her cheek! Liari wasn't dense enough to assume any of this was happening the way it seemed. After all, she could still remember consuming Kombu's dying body, tasting his power as it became one with hers. Whether this image was an illusion, some magic construct or something else all together, Liari wasn't about to let this opportunity go to waste. She had to admit, though... this fake was much faster and craftier than the original Kombu, employing feints, reversals and counters to compensate for his much lower power-level. What was more, she could feel the impact each time his fist collided with hers or when her boot found his stomach... An image couldn't fully replicate that, could it...? Or was her mind playing tricks on her...? Liari grunted as a boot struck her across the face, knocking her off her feet. She deftly transitioned into a backflip, her tentacles lashing at Kombu's face as rushed in to exploit the confusion. He ducked and dived under several but one wrapped tightly around his neck, whipping wildly from one side to the next either to snap his neck or simply disorient him! Luckily (or perhaps unluckily) for this fake Kombu, his body had been strong enough to survive the initial thrashing, the majin raising a shell-shocked sayain up to her by the weight of his neck. 

    "An amusing challenge." Liari remarked, pulling and arm back behind her. "...But futile all the same. What do you say we put an end to this little game, hm?" Kombu's eyes widened as he recognized the position Liari's arm was in, even more as a familiar teal energy-sphere coalesced in her palm. "Oh, so you recognize this move...?" The Majin noted, her smirk growing wider. "That's right... I know all of your little techniques and I have already thought of some variations to this one. You'll love it." Gently, Liari would bring the teal sphere up to Kombu's face, allowing him a close-up shot of the energy-sphere contorting into the face of a shark!

    "Tsunami Cannon." She whispered... as the beam ENCOMPASSED Kombu! In a flash of blue, green and aqua-marine, the sayain was engulfed in an energy-wave, the blast arching up sharply into the sky, taking on a vague shark-like shape! Just as it reached the edge of Liari's sight, a brilliant blue-green burst exploded across the clouds... and as the light dimmed... Liari could make out the shape of a man... Kombu had survived his encounter with his new-and-improved technique, but not without a few new scars. The Sayain's hands were held out before him, his top having been blown clean off with fresh burn-wounds seared across his chest. His his were held out in front of him in some sort of shield, his palms weeping red where the blast had burned the deepest. His chest rose and fell with each heavy breath, his eye-lids fluttering weakly.

    "Your power has dropped considerably." Liari noted, crossing her arms over her chest. "It seems that, despite the improvements you have made, you're still just as useless now as you were then."

    "Sh... Shut up..." Kombu huffed, shakily lowering himself into a battle stance.

    "What? You can't be serious about continuing this facade." Liari asked incredulously. "Look at you. You can barely keep your eyes open, let alone throw a punch. What do you POSSIBLY think you can do to me now?"

    "I... can still fight..." Kombu insisted, shooting at Liari! Compared to his previous self, this Kombu, even in his current state, would've been able to easily blitz the changelings they had fought. To Liari...? He may as well hadn't been moving. With only the slightest nod of her head, Liari ducked around each and every one of Kombu's punches, her now silver eyes locked on his. She wanted him to understand just how pathetic his efforts were, how futile. It was a matter of pride to Liari... If people was weak as Kombu DARED believe they could fight her, that they stood a chance, what good was her power? Even sayains have been known to buckle under a being's obvious superiority! Still, Kombu came at her, his movements growing steadily sloppier as his stamina gave out. Liari's fist would arch UP into his stomach before the other SLAMMED across his back, Kombu crashing to the ground in a heap. As he rose, Liari rested her boot upon the back of his neck and PUSHED him back down, taking a moment to grind the heel of her boot into his scalp. 

    "Ouch... that MUST hurt, huh...?" Liari questioned before letting out a series of malicious laughs. "I don't know what you thought was going to happen, but fighting me head on...? What a foolish move!" A long, blue tail snaked around Liari's waist, constricting around Kombu's neck and bulling him back up to eye-level. "...But your bravery deserves a reward, doesn't it...? You see, I think you deserve to behold your technique at its most powerful. What do you think, Kombu...?" The sayain gasped desperately for air, one hand tugging at the vice around his neck in a futile exercise of escape. Liari only smiled sweetly, pulling him closer. "It was nice seeing you again..." 

    With a sudden whip of her tail, Liari HURLED Kombu up into the sky, bringing her arm back behind her in the traditional "Tsunami Cannon" pose!

    "AND NOW, GOODBYE. TSUNAMI.... CANNON!" A MASSIVE BEAM erupted from Liari's hand towards the poor sayain! The instant before it connected, however, the beam EXPLODED into a massive energy sea-serpent, its jaws SNAPPING around Kombu as it shot off into the sky! Both the blast... and its target disappeared from sight.... Liari blinked as something in her mind changed... It was subtle, almost unnoticeable but... it felt as if a blockage in her mind had simply... cleared itself. A dark amusement flooded in where that blockage had kept it at bay, one that quickly transformed into a laugh!"

    "Hmhmhmhmhmhahahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Liari CACKLED, head upturned towards the sky! "HA! What a FOOL! ...It matters not... I am free of him at LAST... Hahahah! Haaaaa... Now... Who will I eliminate next...?"


WC: 2046

Learning: 

[C1OT2] Gnashing Tsunami Cannon: Liari pulls her right hand behind her and opens it to begin charging a powerful energy wave attack. A teal energy ball will form. The Ball then begins to ripple and writhe as it twists into the form of a shark head, chomping and BITING wildly! As Liari throws her hand towards the opponent, the energy wave erupts forward, the shark-headed blast aiming to RIP off a chunk of the opponent in the process! [ENERGY]


[C2OT3] Final Tsunami Cannon: Liari pulls her right hand behind her and opens it to begin charging a powerful energy wave attack. A teal energy ball will form. The Ball then begins to ripple and writhe as it twists into the form of a sea-serpent head, chomping and BITING wildly! As Liari throws her hand towards the opponent, the MASSIVE energy wave erupts forward, the sea-serpent blast clamping its jaws around the opponent before exploding violently! [ENERGY]