The wind… no, it was Tarble, whipped around Tater, slamming into him repeatedly, with incredible force. A hit or two, he could handle, but dozens of targeted blows? The large Saiyan could feel blood dribbling from his lips, as he waffled another punch at the air.
Targeted blows wouldn't work against me. I couldn't be predicted either, it wasn't just speed that the I, the younger, but stronger Saiyan had on him… it was an almost eerily impressive predictive ability. I was reading Tater's emotions, the power fluctuations that the Ikari Mode brought him, with near-perfect accuracy.
Well, if that was the case…Tater thought quickly, for someone nearly blinded by unstable Ikari rage.
Tater's power rippled out of him in a massive wave of light and energy, a blast of pure, million-class power that shot out in every direction, an indiscriminate wave that not even my speed could help me avoid.
Though it didn't particularly harm me, my Hyper Motion technique didn't work with flight. Rather, I'd been using multiple footholds that I'd made in the air with my energy. Getting hit with Tater's explosive burst of power knocked me off of my course, sending my body spinning through the air, uncontrolled and faster than a bullet.
By the time I managed to get control of my flight once more, I'd already fallen down past the clouds, and I could feel Tater's unstable, rage-fueled energy streaking down towards me like a comet.
I was ready for it. One way or another, this fight was going to end.
Luckily for us, we were in the perfect spot for it. During our fight, we'd drifted all over Papaya Island. Right now, I was above a large, empty plain. Aside from the grass and a few trees, the only thing nearby that resembled life at all was the small video-bot hovering, fairly far away.
It was the perfect space for our final clash.
When Tater caught up to me, it reminded me mildly of our earlier clash, when I'd slammed into his fist like a shooting star.
Except I wasn't Tater. Meeting force with force wasn't my style. When my old teammate's massive body slammed into mine, I used my smaller stature to grab onto him, roll him over, and get in a few good hits.
In response, his power spiked, bringing his speed and endurance up with it, but this time, I was ready.
He wouldn't surprise me as easily. Not this time.
We tumbled through the sky, brawling like animals. Punching, kicking, biting, scratching, clawing, grabbing, pushing, and pulling. Nothing was off limits as we clashed with every ounce of power we had on hand, both desperately working to keep ourselves conscious and in the air.
He spat blood in my eye, forcing me to close it, relying only on one, and my honed ki sense. I grabbed the remnants of his armor, ripped it from his waist, and wrapped it around his shoulder, trying to dislocate his shoulder, which made a strange sound, but held.
Tater slammed a fist into my ribcage, breaking at least a few ribs. I returned the favor. He punched my tooth out, I spat it at his face with enough force to draw blood from his cheek, then grabbed him by the neck, burying my knee directly into his solar plexus.
In response, Tater tried to fly into a tree.
Bastard was hoping to ring me out.
Screw overpowering me with raw strength, huh? Any win works, so long as it's yours, huh?
So be it.
Letting go of his neck and kicking off of his chest, I blasted up, just enough so that I wouldn't be in danger of hitting the ground and getting rung out.
Even if it was a win that he'd regret, I wasn't giving Tater the satisfaction of prize money.
With an enraged burst of ki that snapped the tree without him even touching it, Tater followed me into the sky, where we continued our fist exchange without hesitation.
We punched and kicked each other hundreds, thousands of times. Tater's undershirt was ripped to shreds, some of which was plastered to his chest by the liquid blood running down his torso, some of which had somehow been incinerated directly off of his body by the heat of our combined energies, appearing as black traces of ash.
Then, with a scream of exertion, I grabbed Tater by the chest and tossed him laterally with all the strength I had.
"REEEEE-"
"THISH ENDS HERE! CATAPULT- Tater and I seemed to be of one mind. I started charging my Regalia before he even caught himself, but I allowed Tater to fully charge his own energy wave before I released it with a roar of finality.
"GAALIA!"
"DRRIILLL!"
My light blue Regalia Wave slammed into Tater's darker, almost reddish Catapult Drill mere meters above the grass.
The results were cataclysmic. The scale of these energy attacks… In terms of safety, they simply shouldn't have been released anywhere near the ground. Doing in high up in the atmosphere like we'd been doing was already a risk, but this close to the ground?
Massive clots of dirt, grass, even several whole trees were instantly rendered into dust and exploded into the atmosphere, as the ground directly beneath us instantaneously craterized on an impressive scale.
At first, Tater's maximized Catapult Drill began overpowering my Regalia Wave. In fact, the only reason that I wasn't immediately destroyed like a pressurized stream of water near-instantly degrading a rock was because of the impressive difference in technique depth between my Regalia Wave and Tater's own Catapult Drill.
Not that Tater's technique was bad, but Regalia compared with the Kamehameha, which was famous for never losing in beam struggles.
Then, after a few seconds, everything flipped, as the Ikari Mode's backlash from sustained overcharging caused Tater's power to dip. First slightly, then more. And more, as time went on. He struggled with every ounce of willpower he had, but his body had slammed itself against its limits one too many times today. Pushing past them now was a tall order. Just keeping his energy in my league was clearly a herculean effort.
Meanwhile, I'd been treading my own limits very carefully. Sure, my body was screaming in protest, but that was just from injuries, and physical wear from my Sonic Tempest. As far as raw ki output went, I was still humming along at 80% or higher, give or take.
"REAAAAAAGHHHGGHHH!!" An animalistic scream erupted from Tater's lips as he poured everything in his soul into the energy clash in front of him. Nothing else was in his mind, except not allowing that power to slip away.
And then, with a flash of light green, his energy signature suddenly stabilized, across from mine.
I grimaced from exertion as Tater's Catapult Drill began eating through my Regalia Wave once more.
But even unlocking SSJP in its entirety wasn't enough to completely turn the tides of this ki clash. Tater's Catapult Drill was optimized for penetration, but my Regalia Wave was far more suited for drawn-out beam clashes like this.
I refused to lose to an inferior fighter in a ki wave struggle. More ki at his disposal or not, I refused to let Tater win this particular clash.
More than the fight, or the ideals, this was a clash of technique. My forte. Weaker in raw strength or not, I wouldn't lose.
"YAARRGGAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" With a scream to match Tater's, I cranked my power level up even further. Ki spouted from my body like a broken faucet as I shattered my limit like a glass ceiling, pouring everything I had, and then as much more as I could find.