[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (213/?)
Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation. This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.
Continuity Note: This story This story takes place about 66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.
[22 April, Age 850. Toki Toki City.]
Toki Toki City was a special place. Constructed outside of the flow of normal time, it served as the stronghold of the Supreme Kai of Time and her most trusted allies, the Time Patrol. Despite the divine mission of the Time Patrol, the city still functioned much like any other population center, and featured many of the same mundane infrastructure and services. There were a variety of dining facilities, including a cafeteria, which normally served breakfast to the Time Patrol every morning. But this time, the cafeteria had been taken over for a private occasion, as two Patrollers sought to celebrate their recent victory.
"How much longer is this gonna take?"
"Quit whining, Kakarot," Luffa said. "We're not doing this half-assed. I don't want you making excuses about stomach pangs when I beat you."
The man sitting at the counter grinned. "Heh. You won't have to worry about that. I just don't see why you're takin' so long to fix breakfast. We could grab something out of the fridge and bring it with us."
Luffa started chopping leeks with a calm precision that belied her expression. "This is special, Kakarot. You really don't get it, then? They told me you were brought up by aliens--Earthlings like Trunks' mother--but you really don't remember our people at all, do you?"
He crossed his muscular arms and rolled his eyes thoughtfully, as though looking up to his brain to locate an answer. "I only know you keep callin' me 'Kakarot', just like Vegeta always does. Every Saiyan I meet tells me that's my real name, but as far as I'm concerned, my name's always been Son Goku."
Luffa gave him a concerned look as she dumped the leeks into a bowl. "You don't mind, do you?" she asked. "I mean, I don't want to get off on the wrong foot here. I meant no disrespect."
"Nah, it's fine," Goku shrugged. "But it sure is weird havin' people call you two names."
"I… I didn't realize you never understood that," Luffa said. "Your mother named you 'Kakarot'. At least, I assume she did. Believe it or not, you wouldn't be the only Saiyan to grow up among aliens, or to take an alien name. But among our own kind, we Saiyans address each other by our birth names, to honor the Saiyans who gave them to us. I suppose you never knew your Saiyan name, so you wouldn't understand, but it means a lot to us. It's a sign of respect. Even if we were bitter enemies, I'd still do you the honor of acknowledging you as a fellow Saiyan."
Goku scratched his chin. "Well I'll be," he said.
Luffa switched to a crate of eggs and began cracking them expertly on the side of a large beaker. "Besides," she added, "I don't get to hang out with a lot of pure-blooded Saiyans. I… like using the name. It's less lonely that way, if that makes any sense."
"Yeah, it does," Goku said. He was still upbeat and carefree, but there was something somber about his tone. "When my grandpa died--the man who raised me on Earth, I mean--I kept his Dragon Ball. I started calling it 'grandpa', like he was in there somehow. It just made me feel better. I still call it 'grandpa' sometimes, even though I know it's not really him."
Luffa nearly asked how his adoptive grandfather died, but suddenly decided she didn't want to know. Saiyan children were a handful, even for Saiyan parents. And the Earth had a very large moon with a very frequent orbital period. Perhaps the old Earthman had simply died peacefully in his sleep, perhaps not.
"Well, Kakarot," Luffa said, "It's customary for two Saiyans to share a meal before a friendly contest. Sure, we could grab some field rations or slap some flour in water and call it done, but I want to savor this occasion, and I'm betting you've never had any Saiyan cooking before."
"I guess not," Goku said. "Is there something special to it?"
Luffa paused just long enough to point her knife at herself. "Just me, really. The original Saiyan homeworld was a distant legend even in my day. Our ancestors wandered the universe, sometimes establishing new home planets, but mostly roaming the stars in search of adventure. So the ingredients vary with the circumstances. It's more about resourcefulness, cobbbling together a good meal with whatever you have on hand. Of course, Toki Toki City has a really impressive pantry, so I can do pretty much anything I want. Potatoes, sausage, ketchup, they really know how to live on Earth."
"Well whatever you've got going on over there, it sure smells good," Goku said. "I used to cook fish when I lived alone, but Chi-Chi said I wasn't allowed in the kitchen anymore after I caused that fire."
"Hah. Typical," Luffa scoffed. "I've never met a Saiyan man who wasn't all thumbs over a stovetop. Oh, they like to brag about how good they are with their hands, but it never seems to pan out where it counts, if you know what I mean."
Goku laughed. "I know. One time Chi-Chi got this bookshelf for Gohan's room, and I tried to put it together for her and hoo-boy! That was a disaster."
Luffa stared at him incredulously. "No, I was talking about… never mind. You like pineapples, Kakarot?"
"Do I?!" Goku exclaimed.
"Thattaboy," Luffa said, grabbing a can of diced pinapples from the countertop. "So how much do you know about me, exactly? I'm kind of surprised you knew what Chronoa meant when she told you who I was."
"Hmm? Oh, you mean the Super Saiyan Legend." Goku said. "Vegeta told me about it, but he didn't say a lot about you personally. Just that you died a thousand years ago. Nobody said anything about you being a girl, either."
Luffa shrugged. She had already learned this from a Time Patrol mission on Namek, but the Goku she spoke to now was several years older, and she had hoped he would have heard more. It now seemed clear that his only source on Saiyan history was Vegeta, who only had so much information to share. "Better than nothing, I suppose," she finally said.
"I hope it didn't hurt too much," Goku added.
"What?" Luffa asked.
"I mean when you turned into a Super Saiyan for the first time. Things were pretty rough when it happened to me," he explained. "I was in really bad shape and Frieza was killing my friends. Later, when I thought about it, I realized the last Super Saiyan must have gone through the same thing. My boys had an easier time of it, but they're half-Earthling, and that seems to help 'em somehow. But with you and me and Vegeta, well, I think you have to get pushed pretty far to transform like that. I just hope you didn't suffer a lot when it happened."
"I did."
"Oh."
"I made them regret it, though," she said darkly.
"Yeah, I'll bet," Goku said with a knowing smile. "You're no pushover, Luffa. I can tell that just watchin' you chop that tomato. You're holdin' back a ton of power. You must have worked hard to keep it under control."
"I could say the same about you, Kakarot," she replied. "The way you sit there you'd think you were just some ordinary guy. You're not like any Saiyan I ever met before. Most of us wear it on our sleeves, but you, you're totally relaxed. Something tells me you're gonna stay that way right up until we're ready to start."
Goku simply chuckled.
"You must have kept it together a lot better than I did," Luffa said. "When you first transformed, I mean. All that Earth-style martial arts must have helped you regulate the form."
"Nah, it was pretty touch-and-go for a while. I was so mad at Frieza that I didn’t really want to rein it in, you know?"
"Heh. Yeah, tell me about it," Luffa said. "I didn’t mind until I ran out of things to fight, and then I realized I couldn’t turn it off. Fortunately I had some friends there to talk me down." She looked up from the eggs she was whisking. "I wouldn’t tell anyone else, Kakarot, but it scared the hell out of me. I thought I’d go crazy, or blow myself up, or…"
"Really?" Goku asked. "I thought you old-timer Saiyans knew all about that stuff."
She shook her head. "I guess the transformation itself never made it into the legends," Luffa said. "I knew about Chanisp and old Darbock and the other great heroes, but I never had any idea that they might have turned blonde to do the things they did. And none of those guys were women, so I don’t think anyone would have bothered filling me in. I had no idea what was happening to me."
"Wow, that must have been rough," Goku said.
"Well, like I said, I had someone there to help me. Same as you, I guess."
"No, I was mostly on my own," Goku said. "I mean, King Kai was keepin’ tabs on me from Otherworld, but I sent everyone else to get off the planet. After that, I spent a while in space before I made it to Planet Yardrat."
"I’ve heard of it," Luffa said. "In my era, it was said they developed some interesting techniques. Always wanted to go there… So they must have helped you get your powers under control."
Goku shook his head. "No, they showed me some things, but they weren’t very strong, so they didn’t know where to begin with that."
"Then how’d you--?"
There was a faraway look in his eye as he answered. "I was pretty scared myself at first, just like you were. But I remembered what Vegeta had said, about how scared Frieza was of a Super Saiyan showing up. And then Frieza asked me what I was, and I just knew. The story was true, and that meant that I wasn't the only one. There had to be another Saiyan, a long time ago, with the same power."
He locked eyes with Luffa and smiled. "And I knew if that old-timer Saiyan could handle it, then I could control it too. That was what kept me goin’. I had a couple of close calls on my way to Yardrat, and I almost wrecked my ship a few times. I probably would've lost control out in space and kicked the bucket, but I didn’t give up, because I knew he didn’t give up. Well, ’she’, I guess. Oops! Sorry, I guess I mean you, huh?"
"Are you saying… I helped you?" she asked. Suddenly she caught a whiff of something burning, and she darted over to save one of her pans.
"Yeah, I guess so!" Goku said. "Boy this time travel stuff sure is funny, huh? Even though the Supreme Kai of Time told me who you were, I guess I didn’t think it through. I never imagined I’d get to thank you in person. And look at you! You must have been younger than me when you became a Super Saiyan, and you didn’t even have someone like Vegeta to tell you about it. Hey, what’s wrong? You okay over there?"
"N-Nothing," Luffa said with a sniffle. "It's fine. I just… hey, you like onions, right?"
"Sure! They’re great on chili dogs and all sorts of other things! Chi-Chi doesn’t like what they do to my breath, but I guess she doesn’t have to know…"
"Fine, because…" Luffa paused to wipe something from her face. "I’m chopping a whole bunch of onions. Yeah. Like, all of them. I won’t tell her if you don’t."
"You bet!" He suddenly had a very coy look on his face. "We’ll keep it between us Legendary Super Saiyans, right?"
"Right, Kakarot," she said with a stifled sob.
After eating, Luffa escorted Goku to the Time Plaza, where they were greeted by the Supreme Kai of Time, and Trunks. The rest of the Time Patrol was still hard at work on repairing the city, and there were construction details all around them. Trunks was usually very serious about his duty, but for once he was in very good humor. Chronoa, on the other hand, seemed mildly annoyed with them.
"You’re late," she said to Goku and Luffa when they arrived. "You know, it’s not polite to keep a Supreme Kai of Time waiting. Ironic, sure, but not very professional."
"Sorry, ma’am," Luffa said. "We would have been here sooner if someone had helped me with the dishes."
Goku simply rubbed the back of his scalp and laughed sheepishly. It was enough to charm Chronoa into a better mood, and Luffa began to wonder if this was his technique for getting out of chores. It seemed very likely that Son Goku had never washed a dish in his life.
"It’s all right," Chronoa said. "Without you two, Tokitoki City wouldn’t even be here. You’ve earned some downtime. How was breakfast?"
"Well I’ve had better omelets," Goku said, as he patted his belly, "but I sure can’t complain about the portions!"
"I’m standing right here, you insensitive oaf," Luffa said frostily. "And I don’t remember seeing you in the Crack of Time while I killed Demigra."
"Hey we had our hands full in the Time Nest," Goku said with a giggle.
As Luffa turned to Chronoa to discuss the logistics of their time-jump, and Trunks took Goku aside.
"Listen, Goku," he said, "I’m pretty busy right now, so I might not get a chance to say this before you head back to your own time, but could you--?"
Goku took his hand and shook it firmly. "When I get back, I’ll make sure to send Vegeta and Bulma your regards," he said. "You’ve accomplished a lot here, Trunks. Your father will be proud of everything you've built here. I know I sure am."
Trunks smiled. "It was good to see you again, Goku. Good luck with your fight."
"Hey, about that," Goku said, tugging his sleeve before Trunks could turn to leave. He leaned in and held his hand over one side of his face. "You’ve sparred with her before, right? Do you got any advice for me?"
"Did you bring a cup?" Trunks asked. His face suddenly bore an uncomfortable expression.
"What? No, we already ate, Trunks," Goku said. "What do I need a cup for? I’m not thirsty."
Trunks became even more anxious, and then he closed his eyes, as though resigned to the situation. "Never mind," he said. "You two have fun out there, okay?"
"Kakarot, are we doing this or not?!" Luffa demanded. "The door’s open, let’s go!"
"I’ll be right there!" Goku said. "Well, I gotta go, Trunks. Take care!"
Trunks watched him run off, then turned and shook his head. "It'll be fine," he said to himself as he walked off to attend to other matters. "They'll be just fine."
[9 May, Age 791. The Tuffle Planet.]
The Parallel Quest system in Toki Toki City relied upon a fleet of time machines, each modified to travel to various time fragments that had been preserved by Chronoa for research and training purposes. Time Patrollers would visit these fragments to experience moments in history, or to simulate mission scenarios they would encounter in the field. The main advantage of the fragments was that they each replicated a short span of time in the genuine universe, complete with many of the same events in the true history, but the fragments were completely isolated from the timeline. This meant that a Patroller could take almost any action in a PQ mission without altering history. The fragment would simply reset and return to its original state.
And so, this made the PQ system the ideal venue for two Super Saiyans to do battle. Any collateral damage would be of no consequence, and Goku and Luffa could fight as hard as they pleased. The only detail left would be to choose a proper setting for their battle, and Trunks had arranged this the night before. He had explained his choice to Luffa, but for Goku, this would be a surprise.
"Wow. So where are we anyway?" Goku asked as he peeked out of the dome-shaped canopy of the time machine.
"Planet Vegeta," Luffa said. "Or Plant, depending on who you ask. There’s a divergent timeline where a Tuffle machine mutant asked Shenron to recreate the whole planet inside Earth's solar system. He was planning to repopulate it with Earthlings infested with Tuffle spores, or something like that, but it didn’t pan out. Anyway, in this time frame, the planet we're on is deserted, so you and I can duke it out without any distractions."
They had both jumped out of the time machine as Luffa explained this, but Goku's attention was focused more on the horizon than on her words. The sky was crimson, with thin wispy clouds overhead. It almost looked like Earth around sunset, but the sun was still high above them, along with a large blue crescent. For a moment, Goku wondered if this was the moon, but then he sensed the ki from the living energy of the body, and recognized it as Earth.
The gravity was higher than on Earth, though it did not bother Goku at all. He had heard long ago that the Saiyan homeworld had a higher gravity, similar to that of King Kai's planet. Long ago, those conditions had given Goku some difficulty, but by now he was so acclimated to high-gravity environments that he barely noticed the difference. What truly made the planet look strange to him was the architecture. In the distance lay a city centered around a crater. A butte rose out of the middle of the crater, and on top of this stood a massive tower, with flying buttresses extending from all sides and reaching out to the city below like great steel tentacles. Goku had never seen anything like it in his travels. It was all quite strange to him.
And yet, there was something familiar about it at the same time.
"Say, I was born here, wasn’t I?" Goku asked.
"Yeah," Luffa said. "Trunks thought it would make a good neutral battlefield for us. It’s a Saiyan home-world, so we know it can take a pounding, but it’s new to both of us. You were sent away as a baby, and I've never been here before. I can see why Saiyans would want to live here, though. It is kind of pleasant to look at, don’t you think?"
"I guess," Goku said. "But it seems kind of creepy with all these buildings and no one else around. Besides, we ain’t here to admire the view."
"Damn straight," Luffa said. "Listen, before we get down to business, I have a request."
"Huh? A request? Okay, shoot."
"I don't know about you, but I've wanted something like this for years," Luffa said. "I never imagined I'd actually get to meet one of the old Super Saiyans, or that I'd live long enough to see the next guy… well, you. So just getting to fight you is a big deal for me."
"I'm pretty excited about it too," Goku said.
"Well, the thing is, there's no guarantee that we're evenly matched," Luffa said. "The fight will settle that, but we're from different eras. If Chronoa had contacted the Kakarot from five years earlier, you'd be five years weaker than you are today."
"I think I follow you," Goku said, though his expression suggested otherwise. "
"Look, there's a chance one of us could overwhelm the other," Luffa said. "I'm a lot stronger than I was when I first transformed, and I know you've come a long way yourself, but what are the odds that were dead even in this moment?"
"I guess we'll just have to find out," Goku said as he started rotating his shoulders to limber up.
"Of course, but what I'm getting at is that we shouldn't be in a hurry to settle things," Luffa said. "Even if this turns out to be a mismatch, it's still special to me. So let's take our time and savor the moment. It's a special occasion, you know? I bet every Super Saiyan before us wishes they could be doing what we're about to do."
"All right, that works for me," Goku said. "I'll ramp things up if it gets too dull, but otherwise… yeah, we oughta drag this out as long as we can."
"Good," Luffa said as she adjusted her gloves. "Now that that's settled, we ought to start out as Super Saiyans, right? Seems kind of appropriate."
Goku nodded. "Ladies first," he said.
Luffa nodded curtly and threw her head back as she transformed. Golden flames flickered around her as her hair glowed with a harsh yellow light.
"Incredible," Goku said. "From the feel of it, you’re more used to this form than your normal state."
"Let’s get on with this," Luffa said. "Or are you going to make me wait another thousand years?"
Goku balled his fists and widened his stance. He made a sort of humming noise as he gathered his energy, and then he cried out as he unleashed it into his transformation. His hair now glowed just like Luffa’s, and their fiery auras mingled together.
"A lot like Trunks," Luffa said. "I should have noticed it before. He said it was your son who trained him. But I couldn’t sense any of this in you over breakfast. It’s like you’re a whole other person now." She bent her knees and settled into a defensive posture. "Ready?"
Goku crouched and angled his body to one side, pointing his right knee towards Luffa. He lowered his hands just below his chest, and kept them slightly open, as though ready to grab or punch at a moment’s notice.
"Yeah! Let’s do this!" he said. But neither of them moved. Anxious as they were to begin, neither wanted to open with a mistake.
And then suddenly, without warning, they both rushed towards each other. Luffa landed the first blow, but it was only a glancing strike, as Goku had twisted his upper body to avoid it. He tried to bring his knee up to Luffa’s midsection, but she somersaulted out of range. Once she landed, she leaped towards him to hit him from behind, but Goku spun around and caught her in the face with his forearm. She toppled over, but just as her body had reached a certain angle, she swung up her leg and kicked at Goku’s face. He blocked this, but not the second kick she threw with her other leg a split second later. Then she broke her fall and launched herself into the air, where she held out her arms, expecting to exchange ki blasts from a distance
Then suddenly Goku was behind her. She had sensed his movement, but her position had left her ill-prepared to react. He grabbed her arm and started swinging her around. Then, to his surprise, she grabbed hold with her other arm, and started applying her own power to spin him. To an outside observer, it would have looked like a mid-air figure-skating routine, sped up to an absurd degree.
At last, they separated, and Goku went crashing to the ground, his body carving a trench as he slid into the ruddy earth of his birthworld. He scrambled to get back to his feet, but found Luffa was already standing over him.
"You like to toy with your opponents, too," she said. The she kicked him in the chest and sent him flying. An instant later she was beside Goku, flying under her own power to match Goku’s trajectory.
"We’ve got a lot in common," she added.
She raised her hands and gave him a double axehandle to his back, sending him back down to the ground. This time Goku landed on his hands and knees, but Luffa was once again right there to meet him.
"It’s weird, right?" she asked. "Like having a brother--wulp!!"
This time Goku was ready for her. When she tried to kick him in the ribs, he leaped up into a handstand to avoid it, then swung out one of his legs for a kick to her jaw. She barely managed to duck this, but not the palm strike which followed. For a moment, she stumbled backward, clutching her face, and Goku used the opening to flip himself upright again.
"I had a brother," Goku said. He was as cheerful as ever, but there was an edge to his voice as he said: "I was hopin’ you’d be more of a challenge than he was."
When she recovered and turned to face him again, she looked like she had been chopping onions again. She looked furious for a moment, then she made a vicious smile. "Bored already?" she asked. "If you want to turn it up, Kakarot, go right ahead. I can handle anything you want to throw at me."
"Is that so?" Goku asked. "You’re wide open, Luffa. You’re bein’ way too sloppy for you to be talkin’ like that. You must be up to something."
"I’m just used to giving other Saiyans a handicap, that’s all," she said. "Especially the men. I know how hard it is for your egos when you can’t even land a little offense."
"It is kinda frustratin’, I won’t argue with that," Goku said. "But I’ve tagged you a few times already, so you don’t need to worry about me anymore."
Suddenly he vanished, and before Luffa could react he was directly in front of her, his right hand closing in on her trapezius. She managed to tilt to one side to avoid it, but this was only a feint. She realized this only when Goku’s other hand had collided with her gut, knocking the wind out of her.
"You'd better start blocking my hits from now on," he said ominously. "You won't last long like this."
"Why not?" She gasped. She recovered and looked him dead in the eye. "If that’s all you’ve got, I can play with you all day!"
Goku was impressed, but not so surprised that he forgot to prepare another strike. He raised his hand for a punch to her face, but she foiled this by swinging her own arm across to deflect it, slapping him across the cheeks in the process.
The attack stung Goku’s pride more than anything else.
Instinctively, he retaliated in kind, slapping Luffa with his own open palm. Her head recoiled from the blow, but she immediately responded with an even harder slap. They went on like this for several seconds, until Luffa went for a punch instead. Goku blocked it and returned fire.
From here, their fight descended into a stalemate, as both Super Saiyans threw punches at close quarters, with neither landing a direct hit. The rhythm of punches, blocks, and dodges was almost soothing in its way. It was almost too soothing for Luffa, as Goku angled his body to avoid her fist and then kept turning, setting up a spin kick. His boot connected with her right flank, but she was able to roll with it enough to dampen the impact.
For a moment, it seemed the stalemate was broken, as Goku relied on his kicks to keep Luffa at a safe distance. He was taller, which gave him an advantage in reach. As long as he kept up his momentum and moved his legs to where they needed to be, Luffa couldn't get close enough to strike back. Ki blasts were always an option, but neither of them were ready to go there. In the moment, it meant more to Luffa to overcome him without changing the terms of battle. And so she continued to play along, flying around Goku and searching for an opening to strike. Likewise, Goku continued to keep up his game, daring Luffa to find a solution instead of shifting to a new tactic.
The answer was simple enough. Goku had longer limbs, but there was one reach Luffa possessed that he did not. She goaded Goku into throwing kicks that extended his leg as far as possible. Each time she avoided his feet, but sometimes he would graze her skin with the soles of his boots. Then, at last, she moved in close enough for him to land a strike, and she caught his leg in her arms. This left her wide open, and Goku went for a punch, but then Luffa flipped around and caught him on the jaw with the tip of her tail.
The strike wasn't hard enough to knock Goku back, but it did rattle him enough to break his guard, allowing Luffa to release his leg and deliver a heavy knee to his abdomen. This sent him flying backward through the air until he managed to recover and stop himself.
Luffa was already on top of him to press her attack. Earlier, she had kept her tail out of the fight, lulling Goku into a false sense that she would not, or could not use it offensively. Now, she used it along with her arms and legs, battering Goku on all sides, whirling around like a top.
She had inspired him! This thought continued to percolate through Luffa's mind as she pressured him. Despite the centuries between them, despite her story being lost to time and suppressed by her enemies, some small part of Luffa's example had still managed to find its way to her successor. It had brought her to tears in the cafeteria, and now that they were fighting in earnest, she could pour her emotions into combat. It was more than she dared to hope for, and now she could show him what she truly was, and inspire him to achieve even greater things.
To his credit, Goku continued to block and dodge her attacks without giving up any ground. Now it was his turn to find a solution without escalating the battle or shifting to a different scenario. She expected him to grab her tail, much the same way she had foiled his kicks by targeting his leg. It only made sense for him to try this, since she would have to face away from him to attack with her tail, and if he managed to get a good grip on her, he would have a free shot. But this was not what happened.
Instead, as she spun around, she found Goku holding his hands in front of his face. For an instant, she wondered why he had left his guard down and moved in to capitalize. In the next instant, she regretted falling for his trap, as Goku suddenly cried out "Taiyo-ken!"
Suddenly, the world went white around Luffa, and she found herself unable to see anything. Even her ki senses were dazzled by the brilliance. She had encountered this technique before during Time Patrol missions, but she hadn't expected Goku to employ such a maneuver, and not in this situation. Now that it had happened, Luffa was forced to back off, and she anticipated a heavy strike.
Instead, when the blow came, it was far lighter than she had anticipated. Luffa barely managed to block it, having detected Goku's approach with her other senses. She did not, however, manage to deflect the second strike, or the third, and so on. By now, her vision was returning, but she found herself too imperiled to actually make any use of it. Goku was all over her, hitting her from all sides.
At last, Luffa became frustrated enough to put a stop to it. Raising her power, she suddenly caught each of Goku's hands as he struck, and used her knees to deflect his kicks. Soon, their melee battle had ended, and was now a test of strength. They each pushed against the other, with their fingers interlocked together.
"Impressive, Kakarot," Luffa grunted to him as they struggled. "You don't seem quite as strong as you were when you fought… Lord Beerus… but it seems like some of that god power must have rubbed off on you."
"Thanks," Goku said. "Lord Beerus told me that my body must have 'memorized' the god form somehow. I can't turn into a Super Saiyan God on my own, but I can still use some of that power in my regular Super Saiyan form."
"You're… going… to need it!" Luffa growled as she pushed harder. Their struggle had begun in the air, but the two of them slowly floated to the ground, as each of them sought something solid to stand on to improve their position.
"I can't… argue with that!" Goku replied. "You're really… urrgh… really something, Luffa. To think… you got this far… in such a short time…"
"I got a lot farther than this," Luffa said with a smirk. "Let me show you."
"Huh?" Goku began to ask, but before he could say anything else, Luffa increased her ki, and began to force Goku backward. Unable to resist her, all he could do was take a step back, and then another, and another. He tried to pull free of her, only to find that Luffa wouldn't let go.
"Confused?" Luffa asked. "Let me make it simple for you."
With a loud yelp, she pushed him harder and faster, causing Goku to lose his footing altogether. She now shoved him backward, driving him faster and faster until they crashed into something. When the dust settled, Goku realized they had plowed through a mesa and caused it to collapse. But Luffa still wouldn't let go, and she swung him around and smashed him into one of the largest portions of the mesa that was still standing.
Her grip seemed to be inescapable, but as Luffa prepared to fling him into something else, Goku brought up his legs and slipped them between their arms. Once he had threaded the space between them, Goku bent his knees around Luffa's arms, and applied enough pressure to force her to let go of his hands. With his arms freed, Goku could then take advantage of the position, and while he had Luffa's arms caught in his legs, he brought his hands together and drove them down on her head with tremendous force.
Luffa stumbled backward as they separated, and Goku followed up with an elbow smash aimed between her neck and left shoulder. She seemed dazed, but just before he could connect, she recovered and dropped to the ground. This threw Goku off-balance just enough for her to slide between his ankles and get behind him. Before he could turn around, she was back on her feet and wrapping her arms around his belly.
"What the--?" Goku asked. The answer was: back suplex.
With a savage grunt, Luffa threw herself backward and pulled Goku along with her, driving him head-first to the ground. That was her plan, anyway. What she hadn't counted on was Goku's reversal. He made a grunt of his own on the way down, and his golden aura flashed more intensely as he applied his power. He raised his hands so that they would hit the ground first, and when they made contact he generated a force through his legs that propelled his body forward, adding to the momentum of Luffa's throw. This allowed him to perform something like a handstand, but with Luffa still hanging onto his waist.
It was an awkward position, but more awkward for Luffa, who now had to decide whether to release her grip or take her chances on whatever Goku would do next. Before she could choose, Goku took flight, and grabbed hold of her wrists, trapping her. He then flew backwards, angling towards a large rock formation in the distance. But just as they reached it, Luffa's hands began to glow…
The planet was deserted, but if an observer had been there to witness the battle, they would have seen the two Super Saiyans collide with the hillside while simultaneously blasting it apart with an explosive wave of golden ki energy. The entire hill was blanketed with a cloud of dust and debris, which all glowed red from the residual energy of the blast. And when the color faded, and the dust cleared, this hypothetical observer would have found both Super Saiyans floating over what was left of the hill, completely unscathed.
"You managed to dodge that?" Luffa asked. "I'm impressed."
"I could say the same to you, Luffa," Goku said with a smirk. "You're no slouch, that's for sure."
"All right, maybe it's time we picked up the pace," Luffa said. "I was a little worried that the planet might get damaged, but from what I've seen, it looks like it'll be tough enough to handle this."
"Yeah," Goku said. "As long as nobody shoots straight down, I think we'll be all right. We are using blasts from here on, right?"
"Of course," Luffa replied. "As far as I'm concerned, everything's on the table. Oh, I get it… you were waiting for me to do it first, just to prove you didn't need to resort to that."
"Heh… Something like that," Goku said.
"Games within games, huh?" Luffa said. "There's more to you than meets the eye, Kakarot. Well, I'd say we're done with the warm up. Let's move on to the next stage."
As they circled each other in the air, both of them raised their arms and prepared to continue.
NEXT: Son Goku's Arsenal