Tundra stretched his arms as he looked toward the direction of his next target.
He had made progress against these enemies, sure… but none of them had been strong enough to make him actually try.
With one final stretch, he launched into the sky.
__
Half an hour later, the planet finally came into view.
Tundra frowned.
He had heard of water planets before… but why was this one red?
Curiosity got the better of him.
He descended.
At first nothing seemed too strange. Perhaps it was simply some form of red algae coating the oceans.
Still cautious, Tundra scooped up a handful of the liquid and let it sit in his palm before pouring it out.
He watched carefully as it dried.
The liquid slowly flaked apart, darkening as it hardened.
Tundra's eyes narrowed.
"A planet full of blood…"
The iron content alone would make the world extremely valuable.
But there was a blue dragon ball here, attached to a creature inside.
Without hesitation, Tundra shot back into the sky.
Right now, the planet was far too dangerous to attempt extracting anything from.
Once he cleared the atmosphere, he raised both hands and began channeling his ki.
A sphere of energy formed between his palms.
It grew.
And grew.
Until it began to resemble a small star.
Tundra could actually feel the strain building in his body. His ki was still thicker than normal, harder to manipulate, and he lacked practice with attacks of this scale.
Still—
The sphere continued expanding until it rivaled the size of the planet's moon.
Satisfied, Tundra hurled it downward.
The massive attack streaked toward the red world below.
As he watched it descend, he briefly considered giving the technique a name.
Then he dismissed the thought.
He likely wouldn't be using something this excessive very often.
The sphere crashed into the planet—
And suddenly stopped.
A surge of power erupted from within the ocean of blood.
The crimson liquid surged upward and wrapped around the attack, swallowing it whole.
Then—
The attack was thrown back at him.
The blood surrounding it vaporized instantly from the heat.
The sphere rocketed toward Tundra.
He didn't even flinch.
Calmly extending his hands, he caught the attack.
With a simple motion, he redirected it back toward the planet.
This time the entire ocean began draining rapidly, the blood collapsing inward as a monstrous power rose to meet the attack.
The creature's ki suddenly split into four separate streams.
Each manifested as a different form of dark energy.
The largest portion was blood-red ki that amplified the other three.
One of those energies was immediately familiar.
The same dark ki he had sensed from the first creature.
Tundra instantly understood what it was trying to do.
He flew down toward the planet.
The massive ki sphere was suddenly enveloped in dark purple energy as the creature attempted to disperse its power.
Tundra landed beside it.
The creature was enormous.
Its blood-red body was covered in countless eyes, all focused upward on the descending attack.
It had a shark-like head atop a massive humanoid frame.
Embedded in its chest was the fourth blue Dragon Ball, surrounded by shards from the first three.
Tundra spoke calmly.
"How… interesting."
"You can use the powers of your fallen brethren."
He slowly walked behind the creature.
"First one so far."
"A shame you're completely focused on repelling that single attack."
The creature snarled without turning around.
"Once… I deal with this…"
"You're next."
Even while draining the energy from the attack, it was clearly struggling.
Tundra simply stared at it.
"Sure you are."
He floated slightly upward—
But before Tundra could kick the monster into the attack a large bloody eel swallowed Tundra whole.
Tundra immediately exploded his aura out, disintegrating the eel
Tundra looked back at the monster.
It threw the attack away before turning back to Tundra and charging at him, screaming
Tundra flew at the monster, only stopping when it attempted to preemptively swat him away
Tundra avoided the hand and flew right in front of the monster, piercing its chest with his arm before exploding his ki outwards
The monster screamed as it burned from the inside
It attempted to grab Tundra only for its chest to explode in a burst of gore
The dragon balls fell to the ground as if nothing happened
Then—
The Dragon Ball shattered.
The fragments split into three groups and shot off in different directions.
Tundra immediately pursued one.
__
Twenty minutes later, he arrived at the next planet.
And stopped in confusion.
The entire world was…
A cloud.
A giant, fluffy cloud.
Tundra stared at it in disbelief.
"Are these planets getting more absurd?"
He descended cautiously.
When he landed, the surface compressed beneath him like soft cotton.
It was surprisingly comfortable.
Maybe he could rest for a moment.
He hadn't stopped once during this entire hunt. Even he was beginning to feel—
Tundra froze.
That wasn't his voice.
He certainly did not get tired from those fights.
"Where are you?" Tundra shouted.
His voice came out strangely muffled, barely louder than a whisper.
He hated this planet already.
Then a voice spoke from behind him.
"C'mon~"
"You must be tired from all that traveling and fighting."
"I'll let you rest."
"I can even give you anything you want."
Tundra turned around.
Standing behind him was a tall woman nearly his height.
She had four puppet-like arms, one of which bent backward at a ninety-degree angle as she casually grabbed a handful of chips and stuffed them into her mouth.
Her hair was long, silver, and fluffy.
Her red eyes watched him lazily.
But Tundra's gaze was fixed on something else.
The blue Dragon Ball embedded in her stomach.
Along with the shards surrounding it.
She noticed his wary stare.
"Alright, fine," she sighed. "Sorry for trying to make you rest."
"How about we just… don't fight?"
"There's no need, right?"
Tundra stared at her.
"Name."
She hummed thoughtfully.
"…Makura."
"Yeah."
Tundra stared blankly at her.
Did she just name herself pillow?
He looked away and dropped backward onto the soft ground.
The cotton-like surface cushioned him perfectly.
It really did feel comfortable.
Maybe he could leave Makura alone—
Tundra abruptly sat up.
"I know you're messing with my mind."
"Do you want me to kill you?"
Makura had somehow sunk into a bed that had magically appeared beneath her.
She groaned.
"Sorry, jeez."
"I won't do it again."
"I just wanted to see what other food Earth had."
Tundra blinked.
A floating television suddenly appeared above her bed.
"I… wouldn't know much about Earth snacks," he said slowly. "Or their technology."
"How?"
Makura shrugged lazily.
"I just walked around the places in your memories and checked the food out."
Tundra rubbed his forehead like he had a headache.
"That shouldn't even be possible."
"How are you walking through memories and seeing things I haven't seen?"
Makura shrugged again.
"No idea."
Then she pointed lazily toward the sky.
"So could you go?"
"I mean… you'd rather I have all the Dragon Balls than someone ambitious, right?"
Tundra slowly floated upward.
The ground was far too soft to stand normally.
He nodded.
"You make a good point."
He turned to leave.
"Maybe I'll keep you alive next time we meet."
Makura waved lazily as he flew away.
"Good luck."