A Demand For Mentorship [Lottus]

Celri's blast collided with the Phantom's. Despite his own blast being comparably smaller than the Phantom's, it seemed to hold its own, even if just for a few moments. The boy continued to hover in the air as the beam struggle continued. The inevitable would seem to come, though, as the Phantom's blast started to overpower Celri's own. It continued to grow momentum before shooting straight towards the boy, and overpowering him completely.

"Gah!" Celri yelped as he got hit by the beam, the power of which was enough to throw him back outside of the pit completely. He landed on his back, now covered even more in bruises and scratches everywhere. Steam rolled off his body from the blast, and he laid on the ground breathing heavily, as a couple of curious onlookers would inspect him. Though, many kept their distance out of fear of interrupting any sort of business Lottus was conducting, be it moral or not. 

Still under the spell of the Wrathful aura, Celri started to pick himself up, though it was a great struggle for him to do so. His agressive and unstable nature caused him to snarl at anyone who tried to help him, which further caused them to keep their distance.

Still breathing heavily, and now clutching his arm once again, Celri searched around for his opponent. Whether the man was right in front of him or not, Celri's vision was completely blurred, due to a combination of the impact he'd just received, and the clouding of it due to the Wrathful aura. The boy managed to get control once more and opened his mouth to speak. "I...I can still...f-fight..." He struggled out, before losing his balance, and falling to the ground. There were signs of life...he was, of course, still breathing.

Unsure of whether or not he'd made a good enough impact on Lottus, Celri desired to continue the fight. It seemed, though, that he'd finally thrown in the towel. Or at least, his body had done so for him.

Suddenly, everything went bright again, as Celri was lifted and jolted awake by a knee to the stomach. He fell to the ground in front of Lottus, gasping heavily for air, in between coughing up blood. After blinking several times, he looked around frantically to realize that he was still in the Brawl Hole. What...had happened? All he remembered was that he started to fight Lottus, before being afflicted with that sinister aura, and then blacking out. The boy looked back up at Lottus for a moment, who appeared to have no visible scratches or signs of damage. That was...pretty much to be expected. 

Quickly, Celri realized the position he was in, and jumped back, trying to the best of his ability to create space. He succeeded in this action, though it caused him to fall to one knee again, clutching his stomach. That was when it hit him ‐ the sheer pain that his entire body was in. Not to mention the black eye that was rapidly swelling up. He had certainly never been pushed this far in his entire life before. Groaning in pain, the boy slowly picked himself back up. This was no time for him to complain. Despite the fact that he was fully on his last legs by this point, he wouldn't give up against Lottus. He couldn't. How he could he ever hope to become a Super Saiyan and take over as King if he couldn't even handle a measly spar?

Celri spit some blood onto the ground, weighing his options. "Tch....damn it all! You won't break me! Not tonight...not ever!" The boy snarled, as he lifted his arms, facing his palms towards Lottus, and started to charge. After a bit of charging, the attack was ready. "I'll show you what I can do!" Celri shouted, as he shot what was likely to be his final attack of the match at Lottus, disregarding the integrity of the establishment they were in once more.

The attack fired and, without any hesitation, Lottus reflected the attack away. This caused the blast to go straight up into the air, far away from where it could bring harm to the tavern or anyone in it, and where it would eventually dissipate into the atmosphere. Celri could only watch in shock, mouth agape, as this happened. Another attack, slapped away like it was nothing. 

"You can't show me anything - you've said you've had no trouble beating other Saiyans up until now."

Before Celri even had time to squeeze out a smart enough response, Lottus snatched him up by the neck. "U-Unhand me!" Celri demanded, squirming and struggling to get out of Lottus' grip, to no avail. Lottus began to lift the two into the air. Celri continued his desperate attempt at an escape, but Lottus' choke was far too strong.

"You don't even know what you can do, I bet. So what could you possibly show me, runt?"


Those words caused Celri to hesitate. For a moment, the struggling stopped. Was...was Lottus right? Celri knew he would never be able to fully best Lottus in combat, at least not how he was right now. But was there a possibility that he was...too weak to even handle Lottus' training? That he had nothing in his arsenal that he could do or even say to show Lottus he was capable enough? For perhaps the first time in his life Celri felt...unprepared.

He had to snap out of it. He knew it. He continued to struggle. To fight. "Argh..." He lifted his hands once more, quickly trying to round up what was left of his available Ki in that moment. As quickly as he could, he shot a small, rather unimpressive Ki blast towards Lottus' torso, unsure if the man would even have to defend from the blast. Regardless, he had to try.

The Ki blast, expectedly, did nothing to Lottus. Even at full strength, Celri's attacks were pretty much futile. It did, however, at least show Lottus that Celri was still willing to fight, despite being so injured and set back in the moment. The older man finally let him go, causing Celri to float back slightly, coughing a bit more. He still had the strength to fly...at least there was that.

It seemed, though, that the battle wasn't finished. Celri looked up, as Lottus raised an open palm at him. He then asked the boy a question...what did it mean to be a Saiyan warrior? The question became much more threatening when energy started to build up in that open palm, threatening a blast straight for Celri!

This was bad. If Lottus fired off that blast, Celri was pretty sure he was done for. He wasn't sure he had the strength to block it. He certainly did not have the energy at the moment to dodge it. He was, figuratively, on his very last legs.

As for the question...it was definitely one that Celri had pondered before. However, he wasn't sure if Lottus would like what he had to say. In fact, he was almost certain what he'd say would be wrong. Regardless, he was going to speak how he felt. "To be a Saiyan warrior...is to be strong. It's to show extended resolve in everything you do, and fight for what you believe in, regardless of any reservations you might have. It's about control...not only of others, but of yourself as well. That is, to me, what being a Saiyan warrior is all about." He answered, preparing himself for the worst in the event that Lottus decided he didn't like it.