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she scratched her head for a few moments, thinking about everything Serori had said regarding the way she thought of the higher numbered forms. she liked to think that her master knew what was best for her progress, and Serori hadn't steered her wrong so far.

" I think I getchya - ya sayin' ya want me to do my own thing instead of copyin' those old farts from the seventh, right? not holdin' m'self to some bullshit standard would be way easier to deal with. "

Caulifla grinned, and began to bounce on her heels again.

" aight, I'll put that shit outta my mind. new goal: whoop yer ass good before time is up in this place. 'n' yeah, don't make it easy fer me. wouldn't have it any other way. "

Serori cracked a weak smile. Maybe it was petty of her, but hearing that Caulifla felt like she'd stagnated, too, helped her own feelings of inadequacy. "I think you're hanging out with other Saiyans too much if you're picking up their terms." Maybe Serori was just a natural loner, or maybe the other Earth Saiyans were too weird, even for her. Either way, she hadn't exactly clicked into their circle, although she guessed they knew she was around - if not originally, then certainly after her possession-fueled rampage.

Looking ahead, Serori lightly punched at the air, holding her fist out as she gathered energy, before shooting a blast off into the distance at nothing in particular. "I don't even think of 'Super Saiyan' and 'Super Saiyan two' as being distinct." After Grendine had worked his way inside her mind for over a year, she'd emerged out the other side with a boost in power, sure, but it didn't feel like an entire different thing. "To me, it's all just Super Saiyan, just at different levels of mastery."

Obviously, there was something else, if Caulifla had seen it, but Serori couldn't imagine it. It already felt like she'd perfectly mastered her form, so what else was there? Maybe that was the source of her block - a failure of imagination. "M'just not sure that's the right goal for you." Not that she wanted to tell Cauli what to do. Her training goals were her own to decide. "But if that's what you're shooting for, I'm not going to make it easy for you."

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" yeah, I ain't a quitter. I mean, shit, I been hittin' a wall I jus' can't push past. I keep side steppin' it but I ain't got over it yet. I can't figure out how ta break the super saiyan two stage, I know there's more - I seen other universe sevens use it. I just can't get there,"

Caulifla began bouncing on her heels as she spoke, " ya know that purple hair form I can do? that's the side step 'm talkin' 'bout. 's what I been tryna do here, break into super saiyan three. and I aint done it in two-fuckin'-hundred days. but I ain't 'bout to give up yet so, soon as I'm ready I'm comin' atchya with everythin' I got again. "

Serori clicked her tongue. "If you're counting on a zenkai to help you out, you should know that they don't do much after you're a Super Saiyan." Diminishing returns for the most part, although Serori herself had picked up more than a few in the past few years. "One fight's not gonna be a needle-mover. You have to keep putting the work in day after day after day." She looked over to Caulifla, frowning as the other woman popped all her joints. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

Squeezing her hand into a fist, relaxing it, and repeating, Serori felt her own energy pulse inside her. "But you've been getting stronger, yeah." Even devoting every day strictly to training, it was hard to make progress, but Caulifla had made more than Serori herself. Maybe some grand breakthrough was too much to hope for, but every bit of extra strength counted, especially when it concerned unknown enemies. The preliminary invitation alone had shown that there were all sorts of fighting styles that Serori had no idea how to deal with, so putting herself in the best position to adapt in the moment gave her the best chance.

"I guess we'll have to see." Hand on her shoulder, she rolled it a few times, getting any lingering tightness out. "I don't know who we'll run into in that tournament, or what they want, so 'a breeze' seems a little optimistic." That demon himself would be there, and Serori couldn't sense his power level at all. She could only guess at how strong he was, to put together something like this. "But, we're Saiyans. I don't back down, and I don't give up. Figure you're the same, right?"

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just uhhhh popping on here to say how much i appreciate everyone i've met thru the fandom bc like i can vanish for long swaths of time and always feel like i'm welcomed back dfljfedlfds i luv u xxxx

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Andi pounces on her super Saiyan GF

"c'mere sweet cheeks, gimme a kith~"

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hi.

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watching a few daima dub clips and uh.......... the mini voices are so much better than the og cast lMAO

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luke warm (?) take but i rly wish people would stop drawing femme ss4 with tiddies and fur bras.

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i miss y'all

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so w what we learn from daima we can all agree ss3 cauli would have hair like this no?

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........is that daima screenshot real bc ..........................

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me: middle of a nap after work

nephew: [ slaps my back ] ITS TIME TO PLAY GOKU. ( sparking zero )

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a loud pop emitted from Caulifla's back as she stretched her muscles, it caused a grimace at first but in the end it felt damn good to get rid of all that pressure build up. she followed up with a similar bone-cracking stretches for her neck and wrists.

" heh, I thought ya liked it when I got cocky. 'sides what makes ya think I ain't already gotten a whole lot stronger from that last fight just now? " she was writing cheques she had no way of knowing if she could cash, but she couldn't help it. Serori's attitude was contagious.

her stomach, however, was not in the mood for another round just yet and let out an earth shaking growl.

" d'ya think I got stronger? enough for this tournament thingy ta be a breeze? "

"That so, huh?" Even if a lot of them were orphans, even if a lot of them had grown up on the streets, that was the difference between kids from a stable, happy planet, and the kind of kid she'd been. That was for the better, honestly - kids were supposed to be easily placated by gifts and affection, not always suspicious and on edge. "I'll keep that in mind. Earth food'd probably blow their minds." Yeah, maybe she'd just pick up a few big takeout boxes of chicken and rice and let Caulifla's ankle-biters dig in.

Her other suggestion went over with a bit more eye-rolling, as Serori reached out and firmly tapped her middle finger against Caulifla's forehead. "You remember that this place is modeled after my people's planet, right? The one that got blown up?" Her voice was flat, as she let that concept sink in. Sure, she'd never been there herself, but come on, wasn't destroying a simulation of it a little too on-the-nose?

Although, it wasn't like she wanted to dwell on it too much. It might have been that she and Caulifla were more-or-less the same race, but that didn't mean they had much commonality in background. It wasn't worth getting mad at her about, and maybe she'd end up talking to her about it sometime. Yeah right. "Besides," she said, giving the other woman's forehead another poke, more teasingly this time, "pretty cocky to think you're gonna have the energy left over to trash anything when I'm done with you, don't you think?"

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Caulifla could simply not disguise the blush, the gentle caress and softness of the fur was a deadly combo, but attempted it regardless with a long drink. though what Serori mentioned got her thinking about home, not just about the kids but the future of her gang. she didn't want to do it forever, leading them. she'd been part of it so long at this point, seen so many leave and she stayed put.

" hah, yeah - but they're easy ta win over - just give 'em a cool toy or somethin' tasty. " she laughed and copied the manner her master disposed of her drinks can. " sooo, this place ain't gonna work once we're done with it? heh, wanna trash this place on our last day? I bet that'll be fun as hell. "

"Something like that, yeah," she murmured, taking a seat down next to Caulifla and pulling the tab of her drink with an audible click, and a hissing of the beverage inside. "I've been trying to make the calendar everyday, so we don't lose track, although I guess it doesn't really matter." She gave a small shrug. "There's only enough power for what we're using, so it'll throw us out when our time's up, anyway." Serori had made sure to clear that up, so there was no chance of the two of them ending up trapped inside.

"It's a shame that we probably won't be able to use it again," she added after taking a long sip of her drink. "I dunno that my engineer has any way to power it back up once it's finished, I think this was more a 'proof-of-concept' anyway." If she and Caulifla were going to use something similar another time, it would probably have to be after Nixxo had created another compressed space for her, and she figured he had his own goals to attent to first. He'd only agreed to let Serori test out the prototype so that he could monitor it externally, and see if there were any flaws or imperfections that needed touching up.

Not that Serori could think of any - everything had worked out well enough from where she was sitting. It really was some kind of engineering marvel, and she was lucky to have the opportunity to use it at all. Even if she wasn't making as much progress as she'd like, three hundred days of training wasn't something to be underestimated. As well, while her own raw power wasn't something that she'd figured out how to pump, a lot of Caulifla's comparative struggles with technique and control could definitely be refined, especially with Serori watching over her and giving critique.

Once her drink was finished, Serori tossed the can up in the air, vaporizing it with a single small bullet of ki. "Although, maybe it's alright that it's just this once." Her tail flicked against Caulifla's cheek. "Makes it more special, right? And besides, even if it's only three days outside, I couldn't keep you away from Sadala and those kids for much longer than one trip - they'd never forgive me." At Caulifla's suggestion that she hadn't really gone all out, Serori merely shrugged. She'd see about that.

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Caulifla was entirely prepared to take a wallop to the face and take the loss, though was fully relieved when it was not the case. her muscles were sore, and she could still feel like burning on her palms - needless to say that ice cold drink felt so damn good to hold.

" hundred days left already? man, feels like it was only yesterday ya brought me in here. " she wondered if she had even really improved, something had been holding her back, keeping her from getting better. in reality, she knew the answer in the back of her head.

she didn't want Serori to leave.

she didn't want to be left alone again.

her parents, Kura, Kale. all left her one way or another. while she stayed in place waiting for them to come back.

" yeah, think so. " she said after a while, staring out into the middle distance as her thumb tapped the side of her drink. " I ain't gone all out on ya yet. "

That was a promising sign - that even if she hadn't landed a direct hit, even trying to deflect it had drained Caulifla of enough energy to be worth it. Even if Serori had probably spent more energy charging her attack, she had the ki reserves to take those unfavorable trades, as long as she got something out of it. Once it was clear that Caulifla had managed to keep the attack off her, at the cost of whatever she'd had left in the tank, Serori flickered to her side. "No time outs," she said, drawing back like she was going send her fist straight through Caulifla's jaw.

Instead, she slowed at the last moment, endearingly patting Caulifla on the cheek with an open palm rather than strike her. "Just kidding," she said, powering down to her base form in kind, the white-blonde hair returning to blue as it fell around the sides of her face, framing the smile she gave her student. "But you know, Cauli, you've got to set your sights higher than just 'getting' me once or twice in a sparring match." The fighting over, she started to fly back down towards the house they were sharing, picking up an Earth drink from a cooler, and using her tail to grab and flick one over towards Caulifla.

"You're pretty much as strong as I am, if not even more so, just a little less experienced and polished." And that was pretty easily explained - Caulifla hadn't had it easy, but her life was relatively cushy in comparison to Serori's mercenary hell. Furthermore, while neither Tanma nor Nagi had been anywhere near Serori's own current strength, that didn't change the fact that they were both generational prodigies, who had taught her how to think about fighting on a deeper, more analytical way than most. "So, your goal shouldn't be getting a few good hits in - it should be kicking my ass and putting me down for the count."

Of course, selfishly, she hoped that wouldn't come to pass anytime soon. She and Caulifla were friends, and she didn't expect the younger Saiyan to leave her like most other people had even if she didn't have a 'use' for her as a master anymore. Still, being Caulifla's superior in combat gave them an easy reason to spend time together, something that justified itself. On the other hand, she was invested in Caulifla's improvement, and wanted to see her succeed. Tricky. "We've got like 100 days left. Think you can take me out by then?"

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" WOO! HOME RUN, BABY! " her voice echoed through the valley, a moment of celebration that only training could offer. but she also needed a quick breather after that move. she wasn't even sure if she could pull it off, it was just an idea she came up with the day prior.

a quick hop, a skip, and the saiyan sped over to where Serori landed, she knew all too well it wasn't enough to put the brakes on the training session and kept her guard up, kept up her super state to tank whatever retaliation her master had in store.

" ehehe, yeah ain't too shabby am I? that's twice I got ya this sesh. ya sure ya ain't gettin' tired, boss -- " Caulifla cut herself off when she noticed, all too late, the massive accumulation of ki Serori had managed to mask. " ah, shit. "

her own ki quickly enveloped her frame as a protective shell as the purple wave of energy connected and forced her along its destructive path, though she didn't let it engulf her and was able to keep the energy at bay with just her hands as she careened the opposite direction.

it burnt her palms, she could feel it gnawing away at the skin too - she couldn't hold onto it any longer and needed to act quick. Caulifla laced her hands with enough ki to nullify the pain then gripped the energy blast and poured all the energy she had into compressing the blast into a tiny ball she then tossed overhead.

" fuck ... " her hair returned black, completely spent of energy to retain her super state. " alright, time out -- "

Caulifla couldn't hide her technique, not from Serori. Having expert ki awareness meant that even when she dropped her hand, seeming to abandon the attack mid-charge, the older Saiyan could still sense the flaring energy inside her. It was no surprise then, when she whipped around behind her, resuming the attack almost instantaneously, with little need for further charging. Still, there was a difference between being able to anticipate something, and being able to do anything to stop it.

If it were a truly life-or-death situation, there were options available to her. Caulifla had left her arm open, and even if Serori couldn't avoid the blast, it wouldn't be hard to hold her steady and shatter her elbow with a well-placed punch. Up close like this, there was still some possibility to snap her neck or crush her windpipe with a well-timed chop. In this situation, though, that wasn't necessary, even if the rejuvenation tanks could patch her up quickly enough.

Instead, Serori used her precious few moments of preparation to flare her own ki defensively, bursting it out around herself to whatever extent she could to blunt the impact. Still, the continuous blasts slammed into her, forcing her forward with each impact, until she found herself crashing into a mountainside. Dust and smoke covered the crater she'd made, and Serori used the moment of peace to pick herself up and take stock of herself. Blood was oozing from where she'd hit her head, and her training gear was torn up from the repeated blasts. Another attack like that would probably put her down for the count. If there was any way she was going to win this fight at this point, she'd couldn't afford to waste any chance.

She wiped blood from her mouth with her thumb, spitting out the rest of it against the crater as she emerged from the smoke. "That's a cute technique," she admitted. "Clever, even if there's an upper limit on who's going to lose to it." Anyone with ki awareness around her level, or even a little worse, could see it coming, and anyone much faster than her could then get out of the way. "You really are full of surprises, aren't you, Cauli?" Her voice was a low, heavy grunt - easily explained by the attack she'd suffered, as though she were speaking through sore lips and with breath pushed up from bruised lungs.

In truth, she was seeing if she could replicate some of what Caulifla had done - charging up her attack less obviously. Cauli wasn't as perceptive as she was, so maybe there was a chance she'd get away with it as the energy bubbled and burned in her stomach, working up towards her throat. "But I can't let you have all the fun, so let me take a stab at it, huh? How's this?!" The energy having finished gathering, she reared back and then jerked her head forward, putting everything she had left into the attack, the massive wave of purple energy pouring out of her mouth aimed straight at her student.

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guys ........

did u kno i fucking love caulifla

[scnzoku]

the smirk on her face was wide, smug that she was able to take such a seasoned fighter by surprise with a simple tactic. there was no way she could have avoided the response, though she managed to brace herself for the impact and minimise the damage Serori had attempted, just a dribble of blood oozed from her freshly burst lip.

though her limbs were freed from her teacher's vice grip, she wasn't able to react in a timely manner. instead she tanked the blast Serori had poised at her stomach, she knew her body could handle the raw power the other's ki packed.

Caulifla wanted to surprise Serori again - make her proud - but after six and a half months they had both gotten used to each others tactics.

fuck it. time to go hog wild.

" crush ..." her voice echoed as she soared into the time-chambers sky, a huge crimson ball of ki gathering behind her. then suddenly she halted the charge - the ki seemingly dissipated - and rushed headfirst at Serori, then a moment before impact, Caulifla blinked behind her master and thrust her arm forward. " ... cannon!"

Caulifla was straining against the hold - Serori had expected that much. With her own strength sapped by the blast as it was, she was just glad to be able to hold on, hoping to wear the other Saiyan down as much as possible before she got too tired. It wasn't the most elegant hold - she just had to use her own strength, instead of taking advantage of the ground or some other surface as a pinning point - but it'd work fine enough, even if she wasn't truly able to snap Caulifla's arm into pieces.

While careful not to loosen her grip, Serori did wonder if there was anything more she could do. Was it worth it to try and slam the both of them into the ground if her student would take the brunt of the impact, and use her own weight to get extra leverage from there? Maybe if she acted fast enough, she could flip Caulifla, working instead on her ankle while trying to use her legs to choke her out. Maybe it was better to abandon the grapple altogether and use the few moments of relative helplessness from Caulifla at her disposal to soften her up with body blows.

As she ran down the various scenarios, what Serori hadn't expected was feeling Caulifla's teeth sink into the flesh of her arm, right where her forearm and upper arm met at her elbow. "Hey, what the fuck, I never taught you that," Serori barked, swiftly repositioning her arm so that she could bash her forearm bracer against Caulifla's mouth with full intent to knock her teeth down her throat even if it did mean that she was no longer actively choking her. "I thought we were supposed to be the feral Saiyans, not you guys!" Abandoning both the leg trap and the shoulder wrench, Serori instead focused on smacking her forearm against Caulifla's face from her position behind her, her other hand at Caulifla's stomach growing hot with gathering ki.