Beyond Super Saiyan

Gira sneered as Lottus brought up her sensei in response to what she said. 

"I've had time to think about a lot of things since then. A lot of people have helped me see who my sensei really was. Still, he taught me so much. He's the reason I got as strong as I did. The reason I was able to grow in confidence to the point where I could challenge you. I'll hate you forever for what you did to him, but it's that cocky attitude you have in spite of what you've done that really makes me mad. That's why I hate that part of you the most!" The hero's energy continued to build with her anger, the sphere between her palms swelling larger and larger as she charged her single most powerful attack. She was intently focused on her opponent, not even flinching as she saw him rapidly approach for a cheap strike.

She didn't dare move if she could help it. Building energy like this took extreme focus. If she let it waver for even a moment, Gira was certain that it would dissipate into nothing and all of her effort would have been wasted. So she simply remained where she was, hanging in the air as she braced herself for Lottus's strike. He landed a vicious knee to her left side. Gira let out a choked cry of pain as she felt a rib crack, the blow knocking the wind out of her. Still, she remained focused. There would be a time for pain later... and if this attack worked, she would pay him back with more than enough change left over. 

"HA... ME...!!" Her voice was filled with determination to match the expression she gave Lottus. However, she did allow a small smirk to cross her lips. It seemed that she had grown strong enough to the point where even someone like Lottus wouldn't be able to put her down easily. She wouldn't taunt him just yet, though. She needed to focus. At this critical point, she needed to maintain the power that was building between her palms. Soon, she would unleash it directly at the other Saiyan... then he would see that she wasn't the same girl who fought with the Hoken back on Namek. She wouldn't be pushed around. Not by him or anyone else.

Gira's glare sharpened as Lottus challenged her once again. Her energy had completely maxed out. Her attack was ready to go. Attempting to push it further would likely only result in losing the energy altogether. Gira sneered at his arrogance, the energy between her palms crackling and sparking with bright blue electricity. 

"You wanna see how much I hate you, then fine! Just don't blame me when I leave you in the dirt! Here, i'll show you the mistake you made when you underestimated me!!" Gira moved her arms back before thrusting them outward with a battle cry so loud, it made her voice crack.

"HAAAAAAAA!!!" As the young Saiyan threw her hands upward in the direction of Lottus's face, the energy began to expand rapidly, threatening to consume the other Saiyan in its bright blue radiance. Then, it burst forward into a beam that looked as though it could consume the entire area, or even destroy the very planet itself with its destructive might if it was aimed at the ground. Gira continued to cry out the final syllable of her battle cry as the beam, if allowed, would consume Lottus in a flash of blue radiance with its sheer size. The beam continued to carry itself into the atmosphere, colliding with a passing asteroid that was instantly obliterated, lighting up the entire sky of the planet for a few moments before the light faded, leaving Gira panting heavily from the exertion.

She kept her gaze locked on where Lottus was moments before, the lingering energy in the air causing the smoke to pulsate steadily with a fading blue light. Gira smirked after taking a few moments to catch her breath.

"So... how'd ya... like that?" 

Lottus had survived Gira's strongest attack. Gira wasn't surprised about that, but one thing she was surprised about was that he was still perfectly capable of fighting. She was certain that she would have been able to at least render him unconscious with how much energy she built up. The young warrior steeled herself, landing on the ground and shaking the exhaustion out of her weary limbs. 

"Guess I shouldn't be surprised. They always say that it'll be the cockroaches that survive a nuclear holocaust." She smirked widely at the other Saiyan. Her blood boiled with something different than anger. Her Saiyan love for battle had come out, and she was ready for this whole bout to continue. It was funny, it seemed that she loved fighting the most when she was pushed this far. The fact that she was going up against another Saiyan amplified that feeling, even if the Saiyan in question was the person she hated most in the entire galaxy. She smirked at his declaration that the attack could have killed him if he were any weaker.

"What? Is that supposed to be a compliment?" She spat on the ground.

"Let's go. You can still keep up, right?" That question was mostly rhetorical. Another jab at Lottus's pride. The explosive power of the other Saiyan's aura answered her question. He charged directly at her, seemingly attempting to smack his head right into hers. Gira's smirk only widened as she saw him coming.

"That's not gonna work!" She moved to the side in an attempt to dodge what she thought was going to be a headbutt, but to her surprise, Lottus quickly changed course, instead holding out his arm and slamming it right into the young Saiyan's face. Gira let out a choked cry of pain, her nose broken and blood spewing from it. The force of the impact knocked her off her feet; and she would have been blown backwards if it wasn't for Lottus grabbing onto her foot. It wasn't like he was trying to help her, however. Lottus was absolutely not the type. Instead, before Gira could even register what had happened, her leg was wrenched from its socket, dislocating with a loud pop as the Saiyan was slammed into the ground on her face, her vision blurring from the force of the impact as she gasped in a combination of surprise, agony, and the wind getting knocked out of her. Lottus would continue his assault, lifting her up again and slamming her back into the ground on her back, the young hero feeling her neck pop from the impact.

Gira growled with frustration, aiming to kick Lottus's hand and free her other leg from his grasp. At the same time, she charged two orbs of golden ki in her hand before aiming each one directly at his face. If this move was enough to free herself, she would flip backwards, landing on the shattered earth and taking stock of her injuries. Grabbing onto her nose with both hands, she popped it back into place with a slight groan, wiping the blood on the shoulder of her gi. This wasn't good. That last attack had seriously messed her up.

As she glared across the battlefield at Lottus, her vision began to blur, her eyes rolling back into her head as she felt her body nearly give out. She caught herself before actually passing out, however, holding her stance. She breathed heavily, clearly suffering from severe exhaustion. Her nose ached, blood still flowing from it. Her neck hurt so bad she could barely turn her head... and her left leg was now completely useless. On top of that, the injuries to her head had coupled with the exhaustion now made her vision nearly constantly blurry to the point where it looked to her like she was now facing off against three Lottuses. The fact that she was still standing at all was a testament to her sheer willpower.

Gira readied herself for whatever Lottus planned to do next. She had to put all of her weight on her right leg, give that her left one had been pulled out of its socket. Not only that, her injuries and the exertion she had put herself through had left her movements sluggish and slow. She was practically a sitting duck. She couldn't help but notice his hesitation, however, when it came to finishing the job. For the first time, she noticed something other than arrogance etched onto his face. The young Saiyan waited for a few seconds, but her opponent still didn't make a move.

'Come on, dammit... give me something I can respond to.' She thought to herself, her muscles trembling from the effort it took to merely hold up her body weight at this point. The exhaustion and frustration caused another voice to make its way to the forefront of her mind. She had felt its presence before in the moments when she was pushed the hardest, but now it was more than just a feeling; it was an intrusive thought of her own.

'Weak... right now, he is weak... he hesitates to finish you. Crush him while you can. Grind his bones beneath your heel. Splatter his blood across the landscape. Feast on the sweet meat of victory. Do it. Do it, now!' It was her own voice, but it sounded savage. Almost feral. 

'No... I want him to see it coming when I beat him. I don't want him to be distracted.' Gira shook her head as she pushed the intrusive thought out of her mind. For now, she was able to push it deep down into the recesses of her mind. The young warrior soon understood what it was; her rage was taking on a mind of its own. All this time of denying it had made it into a force all its own. She could only hope that she would be able to keep it in check.

While Gira was distracted, Lottus made his move. He charged directly at her, triggering some kind of fight or flight response within the warrior. She couldn't move out of the way. She wasn't even sure if she could raise her fists to react in time. Her mind performed the only counterattack it could think to do in that moment. As Gira locked eyes with Lottus, their minds would begin to react to one another. For a brief moment, they would be able to see each other's thoughts and feel their emotions as though they were their own. After this split second, however, time itself would appear to slow to a crawl from the point of view of the two fighters, until the world would go black to Gira. Familiar with this feeling, the young Saiyan would begin to dive down into the abyss; deep, deep down into Lottus's subconsciousness. 

Gira could hear a strange voice on the wind, at the very edge of her hearing. She tried her best to listen closely, barely able to make out the words. What could it mean? Whose voice was this? She wouldn't have a whole lot of time to process these thoughts, however. Soon, there would be another voice that pierced the inky blackness. It was distant at first, but appeared to be approaching at high speeds. Gira could identify the owner of this voice rather easily; Lottus. Well, to call it a voice was a bit of a misnomer. It was more like a howl that morphed into an ear-piercing scream. The scream appeared to rush past her as she was set down, her feet touching something solid in the abyss. After a change in the air, the void beneath her feet morphed into something more recognizable; pavement. A road. Weathered and cracked, but still recognizable for what it was.

As the young warrior began to take in her surroundings, the void changed around her as a city in ruins began to take shape. All around were the recognizable doors that led to specific memories, but Gira was interested in something else that lay on the horizon; a large, crimson glow that appeared to be tainted by darkness. It gave her a feeling of foreboding; great and terrible. Still, Gira couldn't help but find herself curious about what it was. She began to walk carefully down the street, her gaze shifting between the various doors that were thrown open all around her. Gira thought this all rather strange. Normally, people had at least some secrets that they wished to keep, even if they didn't realize it. However, it was almost as though she could read Lottus like an open book if she really wanted to. That being the case, she kept an eye out for any doors that might pique her interest as she passed by them on her journey towards the great big glow near the city center.

Specifically, she looked out for any doors that related to her, her sensei, and Namek itself. She was told by her sensei that Lottus would have eventually come to Namek to destroy it. Now was her chance to figure out if that was true or not. She already suspected what the answer was, but now she had the chance to find out for sure. And unlike with Zuqetta, Gira didn't trust Lottus enough to simply take his word for it. Even though she didn't exactly plan to go on this journey, she decided that now that she was here, she was going to make the most of it and find some of the answers that she had been seeking. She could only hope that the dark recesses of Lottus's mind didn't give her more than she bargained for, or that what she saw here didn't scar her for life. Even more so, she hoped that she didn't run across any super powerful mental projections like she did in Zuqetta's mind.

Gira frowned as she attempted to look into the doors as she passed by. None of them gave any real hint to what lay beyond them, save the occasional unidentifiable noise. If she wanted to get anywhere, then she would have to begin exploring herself. The sudden noise of a voice behind her, however, caused Gira to nearly jump out of her skin, spinning around to see the source. She had been so on edge and deep in thought, she hadn't sensed anyone approaching. To her surprise, it was a young boy, no older than ten years old. Gira remembered something similar happened when she met the guide in Zuqetta's mind. Was this the same sort of person? Or merely some other kind of mental projection? Gira cleared her throat as the boy told her that she wasn't supposed to be there.

"Sorry. I... guess I kind of just did it on reflex. I suppose that's the price of being able to do it so easily." She looked down at the boy as he curiously poked her leg, but before she could ask what he was doing, he spoke up again. Apparently, she wasn't from the "paths," whatever that meant. 

"That's right. I'm, uh... from the real world." Gira tried her best to explain, but even she had trouble truly understanding the inner workings of this technique sometimes. When the boy introduced himself, Gira simply nodded. If this boy truly was supposed to be the same sort of guide that she encountered in Zuqetta's mind, then it wasn't surprising that he was identifying as Lottus. It was strange, though. He was soft-spoken. Polite, even. Gira couldn't believe that this boy was the same monster that she had grown to hate.

At his warning regarding something known as "wrath," Gira looked back towards the direction she was heading. While she wanted to see what this "wrath" truly was, she decided to follow the little Lottus's suggestion for now.

"Okay, let's get outta here. Lead the way." As the little boy headed towards a large, dome-like structure, Gira followed behind, eager to see what this journey inside the mind of another would bring.

Gira continued to take in her surroundings as she walked around with the little Lottus, following him under the slab of concrete as they went along. He mentioned something curious, however. That she was the second person to be here who wasn't from one of these "paths." She mentioned that the first one was a purple guy with a funky outfit. Gira wracked her brain to figure out who he could possibly be talking about. The only purple guy he knew of was Vale. Did he also invade Lottus's mind like she was doing now?

Finally, the two of them reached what appeared to be a road leading out of the city. Gira couldn't tell for sure where the path would lead, however, since all that lay beyond it was more of that familiar, swirling darkness. The little Lottus mentioned that this was the way out, or so he thought. 

"You're not sure?" Gira chuckled slightly, but soon placed her hands on her hips.

"I originally came here out of a reflex, but now... there are certain answers i'm sure I can get here. Tell me, Lottus, before I go; does the name "Gandigan" mean anything to you?" It was a long shot, but if the little Lottus knew of her sensei, maybe he would also know where she could find more information on him and on their final battle.