Bounty Run

“Well yes, it’s just...” Nero turned his head to the side and paused. “A complicated scenario. For more reasons than what either of us expected, I think.” Nero idly scratched the back of his neck. “It doesn’t feel fitting to talk about right this second, don’t worry about it.”

Nero’s energy swirled around him, vague ethereal shapes danced around him before flowing into the glow he was putting out. He wiggled his ears a few times, his focus squarely on his opponent now. Feeling their energy flow out from them as well, Nero smirked— he was totally on the money with saying her Ki had something special to it, but it was more than just zest. The sounds that the energy made were very unique as well, a rumbling stampede ready to barrel down and through the valley— Nero was antsy with excitement. “Bring. It. On!” He leaned back and howled wildly before essentially meeting Gladiator’s attack head on! His own energy output and general toughness would prevent him from being torn apart, but the pressure she was putting out was insane!

Once her assault eventually ceased and the dust eventually cleared, Nero had been pushed back considerably, grinding up the ground a good few meters. He stood hunched over for a few seconds, seemingly unresponsive... Then, the Ki he had gathered began to lift him back up, his head was still facing downwards though, and he also had some bruises now as well as a few shallow cuts. “H-heh, that really is one hell of a move you’ve got...” It took more out of him than simply damaging his body, it struck at his Ki as well. “There’s some of that brightness I was talking about.”

Nero slowly raised his head, a toothy grin on his face; his eyes were firmly closed but energy swirled under his eyelids and flickered out ever so slightly where he could not stop it. "Now here's MINE!" His eyes shot wide open as he could no longer hold them shut anymore, bursting blue energy firing outward from them; it was so much that he probably couldn’t see through it.

Without warning he rushed forward, the energy he had gathered thundered and sparked around him with the echo of wolves howling as an undertone. He got as close as he could to Gladiator and then suddenly stopped on a dime, rearing a hand back before swinging at her face with all of the force he was able to put into it. At the moment of impact, the blue hue that had developed in the area began to wildly spin, an echoing howl flowing through the area, the vague shapes from earlier gained more cohesion as they emerged from Nero and were rather wolf-like in appearance, these figures prowled around the two before fading away along with the rest of Nero’s bombastic technique.

The energy crackling out of Nero’s eyes faded last, but as soon as he could he once again firmly shut his eyes... He would also remain in the same position as when he threw the punch as if he was now a statue!

“Yeah, uh, that works for me.” Nero blinked a few times. Maybe it didn’t set in until he heard her mention the juice bar herself, but she sounded reasonably keen to go there now. On Porunga? Just like that? “Yeah, it works just fine?” Though he wasn’t sure how to smile exactly, he still did. It was a confused yet happy smile, but a smile all the same.

As far as understanding him went, Nero was sure Gladiator would eventually, especially if they kept in contact after all was said and done. What a bizarre turn of events, a bounty and bounty hunter potentially becoming... friends? Or at least not entirely at odds? The universe had a strange way of things sometimes. “Don’t count on being bewildered for too long!” Of course, they were both of Saiyan descent, and Saiyans could, at their best, gain a mutual understanding or respect of each other through battle or arduous challenge.

Having thrown his all into his technique, Nero remained almost petrified in place in the same pose as when it was unleashed. He heard that his move made an impact, and all he could really do at the moment was listen. His opponent’s headwear sounded like it may have shattered, and it also sounded like she had dropped to the ground. She was still conscious, which was impressive in its own right! However, she was in pain— and it was coming from more than just being struck with a powerful technique.

Her heart, Nero could hear her heart! Its beat became louder, just by a fraction, enough that he could hear it clearly! Something within her was roaring, dying to get out— her power began to rise as she too stood up once again. Nero knew exactly what this was, it was commonly known as the ‘Wrathful’ state, it condensed the power of an Oozaru into ones regular body; not too dissimilar from his own unique transformation.

Since he couldn’t really move just yet, Nero couldn’t do anything about being grabbed and thrown into the ground, he still needed a moment to regain composure. That said, the concern on Nero’s end wasn’t that he was going to get tossed around for a bit, but it was that Gladiator sounded as though she was in agony and worse still; unaware, while using this power that had now emerged.

At least she got back up, Nero had to admit that was pretty kickass.

Thwacked into the ground, Nero spat, coughed and groaned. “Okay that woke me up, augh..” He gurgled and snapped back into mobility, those few short moments of vulnerability were now over. Sensing the leap in power his opponent had now made, Nero found it fair to do the same. As easy as breathing, Nero’s power increased in a flash, as he entered a more fierce looking state of his own; more pronounced fangs and wild features! The key difference being he was calm and in control, his power did not cloud his judgement as Gladiator’s seemingly did for her.

With some extra pep in his step, Nero did his best to shove Gladiator off of him just as she swung her axes down upon him! By luck of the draw he once again avoided being viciously sliced, but the pressure of her swing alone was more than enough to send Nero flying a good few meters away, skidding across the ground similarly to a ragdoll. He couldn’t afford too many more hits like that if he wanted to come out with the win, goodness gracious!

Still, like Gladiator, Nero got back up again. He took a sharp breath and raised his hands above him, collecting energy before firing off his go to blue energy beam at his opponent!

Nero’s energy beam was blasted apart by Gladiator’s savage swing, but luckily its power was significantly reduced! Nero barely had time to defend against the heated up power of her incoming axe; thankfully her sparking and violent Ki was more prevalent than the slashing potential of her axes, so it tossed Nero further back, his feet grinding into the ground again...

Yet still, he stood and immediately charged back at her at full force! Nero wasn’t going to let up either, he just needed some more energy. He fired a barrage of Ki blasts in Gladiators direction, and as soon as he was close enough he aimed a dive kick at her abdomen followed by a spin kick to one of her arms and a tail whip at her face.

Though he was on the receiving end of various strikes and hits just now, Nero’s primary concern at this moment still wasn’t himself. He didn’t like hearing someone buckling under their own power like he heard Gladiator seemingly was.

The only way to stop that however would likely be just defeating her outright, and Nero felt like he could manage that; now he had double the motivation to win, hell yeah! His warrior blood was definitely blazing now!

Keeping the pressure on Gladiator seemed to do decently well, Nero definitely had her attention and there was no doubt about it— though perhaps he had too much of it if she was disregarding any sort of pain she was having to this degree. Not that Nero could really say much on that considering he wasn’t in fully fantastic shape either.

Gladiator would be successful in grabbing Nero’s tail and hoisting him upward, however, with his funky monkey reaction time he was going to try something similar! Inadvertently using the momentum of her trying to smack his head with the bottom of one of her axes, Nero would try to swoop down around Gladiator to grab her tail and attempt to shove her forward face first into the ground with his legs.

All the while, Nero could hear something new in Gladiator’s tone of voice. Was that... Fear? Was she instinctively afraid of what she was doing? If that was indeed the case, it was all the more reason to end this sooner than later!

Whenever he got the opportunity to move away from Gladiator, be it of his own accord or not, Nero would call his Nimbus to his side, taking his staff back from its care. Now he would have an easier time fending off those axes!

While he didn’t see her glare, Nero heard Gladiator growling and he felt her try to yank his tail again. “Hey, tail for a tail, it’s only fair!” As soon as her grip loosened on his tail in any way, Nero promptly let go of hers before he swivelled around and hopped away.

Of course, he understood that she wasn’t going to stay down for very long, if she proved she could do anything it was that she was a tough and determined fighter. Nero took a deep breath, focusing even further on Gladiator; filtering out all sound other than what was in the immediate area or the ones she made, be it her movement, energy projection and weapons, Nero followed them as best as he could.

Nero brought his hands up above his head crossing them at the palms. His stance was different though, it was primed for movement rather than attacking at the moment. What was he up to? Well, as soon as Gladiator launched her axes upon him once again, Nero hopped up and rapidly spun around, crushing the energy ball in his hands as he did so, a spherical net of energy was conjured around him— it slowed the incoming axes quite well in fact! It was a defensive manoeuvre!

While it was a potent defense, the concussive pressure of Ki from the axes still washed over him after he stood firm on the ground again. The damage was minimal, but at this point something this small would still sting. Nero growled, a smile emerging as he huffed at his hair to get it out of his face. One more time, Nero brought his hands above his head as he strained his way into a firm stance. A larger than normal ball of energy would suddenly flash into existence as he struggled somewhat to hold it above his head. “Okay... One last time..”

Nero leaned back and then pushed the energy ball forward with all of his might, shooting a blue energy beam at Gladiator with a mighty battle cry! “MASENKO!”

Nero had a moment of immense fatigue hit him after he had fired off that last energy beam, he hunched forward and took a few shallow breaths before he could regain a state of semi-decent composure. What hit him after that... Was silence, his opponent didn’t sound like they were moving. That was, until he heard her finally fall over, her boost in power wasting away as soon as she made impact with the ground.

Left in a seemingly infinite moment of silence, Nero began to process what had just occurred when he sort of struggled to power down since he was still on a bit of a high from the excitement! Nero beckoned for his Nimbus and the fluffy little cloud would re-emerge from behind a nearby rock that it had absconded to during the final clash between the two warriors!

Now, Nero could still walk, though he would be slow, so he instead flopped onto his Nimbus, instructing it to go to where Gladiator was. After he was absolutely certain she wasn’t going to get up and slap him silly, Nero slowly opened one eye, then the other. He had overcome the challenge that was this fight with his eyes closed as he promised! “Right, let’s get her to the nearest village...” Nero wiggled his hand vaguely in the direction of said place as he began to pick up Gladiator, intending to carry her while he was carried by the Nimbus. There was also the matter of her axes, they were easy enough to hold onto.

However, in picking up Gladiator and her axes, Nero could now see that her mask— a very badass one at that— was totally totalled. “Ah beans, I better get that fixed up too...” In its defense, it was rather sturdy overall so there weren’t too many pieces scattered around to pick up. That said, he could also now see Gladiator’s face, and he couldn’t just lie to himself; she was quite the looker! “Knew it.”

With everything more or less sorted out here, the Nimbus would carry the two to a nearby village for them to rest up. Some local healers would tend to them, enough for the two to regain most of their vitality, though it would still take some time for them to be properly ‘fighting ready’ again. Gladiator would be set on a comfy bed, while Nero insisted that all he needed was a nice chair nearby, he wanted to be the now familiar face she saw when she first woke up.

The shattered mask Gladiator was wearing was seen to by some local smiths and mages; and it would essentially look brand new; though there was more to it than meets the eye now, just some nice little enchantments Nero thought she might like.