(Meanwhile)
(Pluto)
The state Gohan and Sandra had left Mars in following their little scrum on its surface was, for lack of a better expression, a work of art. Just like Bulma had described, the once gorgeous, perfectly rounded planet had been transformed into an oval of red dirt, with its entire southern hemisphere blown to kingdom come. What's more, the remains of that half had been scattered around the planet's space, leaving it with its own veritable asteroid belt.
Following the trail of destruction, the pair's battle inevitably reached the very outer reaches of the solar system. There, on the smallest, coldest and most isolated planet in the region, the two Super Saiyans began laying into one another with reckless abandon, not caring how much damage they caused as long as their opponent felt most of it. However, this being more of a contest of skill as opposed to a contest of strength, the duo was making one hell of a show of it.
Shockwaves rang out across the frozen planet in droves. On the western plains facing towards the sun, imbued in the glows of their respective Super Saiyan 3 forms, Gohan and Sandra could be seen locked in a heated exchange of blows.
Parrying a series of kicks, Gohan ducked and countered with a kick of his own, forcing his opponent to block. Upon which both fighters threw a right cross at each other, their knuckles impacting in the middle and sending both warriors skidding back across the frozen tundra.
The moment they stopped, with a cloud of ice and dust billowing about them, both warriors set themselves into low stances of two completely different fighting styles.
Clenching her fists tightly and cracking her knuckles, Sandra shifted her weight onto her back leg and held her arms straight out in front, one fist hovering over the other. From the looks of it, the stance she'd taken was reminiscent of the one found in Shao Bei Quan, but was really an extraterrestrial form similar to it.
Responding to her style accordingly, Gohan brought both his arms forward and assumed a wide, low stance with his left side facing forward. In addition to this, he also had his knuckles turned downwards and his index fingers extended, adopting the use of the phoenix eye fists. Judging from his own posture and arm positions, he was now using the Choy Li Fut style, emphasizing pressure point strikes and extensive use of the upper body.
Despite their battered and bruised states, both Saiyans were fired up and ready for another round, the pair of teenagers shooting their opponent a smile.
Letting out a yell as she rushed forward, Sandra leapt into the air and threw a side kick at her foe. Gohan attempted to block with his arm, but was sent stumbling back from the force of the blow impacting his limb. When he stopped, the demi-Saiyan blocked a second roundhouse kick, before being forced to catch a downward strike from the woman. Grappling with her momentarily, he then threw her arms off and dropped both of his on top of her. The female empress deflected his downward swings and returned fire with her own. Gohan backed away, using his forearms to block. After which he then stepped forward and drove two fists into her chest and stomach simultaneously.
Despite the hit, Sandra was able to counter her opponent with a sharp front kick to the chest, knocking the Z-fighter back under the force.
A winded Gohan quickly recovered from the attack and reset his position. As soon as he did, Sandra spun at him once again, letting out a yell as her arms flew at the young warrior from long range. Her fierce assault forced the demi-Saiyan onto the defensive, parrying her strikes one after the other. Due to the rotating nature of her attacks, Gohan was pushed into a steady retreat.
Following a particularly vicious string of punches, the demi-Saiyan lunged forward, swinging his arms in and attempting to clap his opponent on both sides of the head. Sandra moved back to avoid it. After that, Gohan then spun in low and attempted to hit her with a strike to the kidney, only for his foe to block it, spin around, and nail him in the side of the head with a spinning back kick.
The blow knocked Gohan tumbling across the planet, bouncing painfully off of the ground several times before flipping back into an upright position. Coughing up some blood, he then reset his stance, gritting his teeth to fight off the pain. "Okay. That hurt like hell." Thanks to that shot, he was now seeing double.
Before his vision had a chance to recover, the teen then had to block another barrage of punches and kicks when Sandra came swinging at him a third time, using the momentum of her rotations to drive all of her attacks in. After Gohan unsuccessfully attempted to counter her with a kick of his own, he then redirected several more punches, until Sandra slipped one through his arms and nailed in the shoulder with a loud crack. Gohan shouted in pain and skidded backwards, gripping his joint. "Fuck! That's another bone!"
Sandra, giving another yell, swung her right foot up and dropped an axe kick towards Gohan's head. Catching it, the hybrid slipped under the woman's split, grabbed her other leg and tossed her over his shoulder, throwing her into the air. His maneuver however backfired when he received a swift kick in the ribs when Sandra used the momentum from his throw to hit him on her descent. Gripping his side with a shout of pain, the battered demi-Saiyan stumbled away. "Her legs are too damn strong! I can't fight against such a flamboyant style with a form like this! I have to change it up again!" Taking a few deep breaths to clear his head, the demi-Saiyan calmly slid his legs apart and assumed a low horse riding stance. Bringing his right fist to his face and sticking his left all the way out, Gohan then focused all of his attention on his foe, while simultaneously switching to Muay Boran. "Let's see how you fair against this one!"
Muay Boran was the traditional form of Muay Thai, which relied predominantly on well-timed, powerful kicks, knees and elbows to disorientate and defeat enemies. With the sturdy defense and powerful offense provided by this particular martial arts, Gohan was confident he could shift this battle in his favor.
Looking at the new stance Gohan had taken, Sandra narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Figuring it was just another ploy to deter her; the female Saiyan sprang forward and spun in with another kick. However, the moment her leg came swinging around, her opponent caught her completely by surprise by stepping forward and slamming his foot in her face with a straight kick. The counter knocked her flat on her ass, allowing Gohan to reset his stance and smirk.
"Appai!" he shouted, before stepping back and switching to southpaw.
Springing to her feet and massaging her jaw, Sandra then leapt at her opponent with another series of wild kicks. Her legs swung in and up at her foe, all aimed for the body and head. However, despite the speed and ferocity of her attacks, Gohan was able to check, block and knock all of them back. When she tried to throw another left roundhouse kick at him, the demi-Saiyan brought up his leg and stepped on her thigh before it had a chance to come around, knocking her off balance. When she then tried to spin at him with another backhand, Gohan instead jumped up, checked her arm with his leg, and dropped an elbow right down onto her skull.
"Appai! Appai!"
The loud crack was followed by Sandra stumbling away in a daze. When she recovered, she then attempted to hit her opponent again. But every time she tried to get close, Gohan repeatedly checked or parried her, using his knees and arms to stop her in her tracks. Sandra tried for a kick, but Gohan checked it and shoved her away with his hand. When she tried to throw a hook, the demi-Saiyan responded by slamming a front kick into her shoulder and knocking it back with a painful thud. She then followed up with a roundhouse kick, which Gohan blocked and struck when she landed with a kick of his own. After which the hybrid began driving repeated left roundhouse kicks into her thigh and hamstring, nearly causing her body to buckle from the vicious assault. To finish up, Gohan jumped forward and kneed her in the stomach, dropping her to the floor.
Gasping from the sharp blow to her ribs, Sandra rolled out of the way to avoid her foe's axe kick, which split the ground beneath them. The evasion placed her at a distance and allowed the woman to leap back to her feet. Body stinging from the pounding, the female warrior cursed. "Damn, he's got some seriously brutal kicks. I can't take too many more of those." Because his kicks were short, he could nail her faster than her more flamboyant punches and kicks. On top of that, he was using knees and elbows, which was really starting to hurt. "Alright. If you want to play dirty… let's play dirty."
As Gohan watched his opponent carefully down his extended fist, he raised an eyebrow when he saw Sandra lower her waist, widen her stance, and bring both her arms across her body, her right fist hovering at her cheek while her left was positioned low and across her torso. She also appeared to be leaning towards her right side with her left shoulder elevated and weaving from side to side, making her movements look very crablike.
Initially this confused Gohan. That was until he remembered seeing a very similar style during one of his free study periods. "Cross-armed defense? No… her left arm is positioned much lower and her shoulder is pressed up against her chin. The shoulder-roll defense." Whatever style it was, it looked to be very boxing-oriented, as her movements were mimicking that of a first-rate ring fighter. However, when Gohan looked down at her legs, he noticed she'd lowered herself into a crouching stance, very similar to the horse-riding stance. But something was off about it that had the teen sweat. "What exactly is she planning?"
Deciding to throw caution to the wind, Gohan kicked forward and shot towards his opponent with a left jab the instant he blurred into range. However, the second he threw his punch, Sandra head-slipped under it and opened up on the Saiyan with a left-overhand that caught the demi-Saiyan by surprise, who managed to block the counter with his arm. The attack slammed into his guard with such force it sent him skidding back across the icy field.
Alarmed, Gohan began backing away at high speed as Sandra came charging at him in a zigzag motion, her head weaving from side-to-side so fast the Z-fighter could barely track it. Taking advantage of his surprise, Sandra unleashed a series of swift straights and hooks, which the hybrid was forced to block and parry while retreating. He attempted to counter with a left roundhouse kick, but his opponent punched his thigh the instant he came up and knocked it to the ground. The startled Gohan then leant back to avoid another hook and retaliated with a swift side-kick up to the woman's head.
Sandra blocked with her cross-arm guard and shoved her opponent off his feet, sending him flying several dozen yards to smash into an icy glacier.
A crater being knocked into the mountain's side, Gohan gasped in shock and reset his stance and arm positions. He reacted just in time to begin blocking and dodging a second assault from Sandra. The female Saiyan hammered him with wide arcing punches and straights, at the same time head-slipping the hooks and counters Gohan attempted to land on her. She also managed to throw a swift right Senko at him, her attack shooting out with the whip-crack of a rifle. But Gohan ducked just in time to avoid the golden bolt of her fist, which struck the mountain behind him and disintegrated it in a blinding flash of light.
Not willing to stand there and get beaten into submission, the demi-Saiyan then threw a knee up at Sandra's gut, which she blocked with her own. The maneuver allowed the hybrid to force his way into her defense, grab her behind the head with his left, and ram his right elbow into her neck, locking her up.
The pair then began to grapple, with Sandra trapping Gohan inside her grip by locking her hands directly behind his head and forcing him down. The gutsy fighter from Earth then attempted to sweep the Saiyan's legs out with his own, but his opponent would constantly slide them out of reach, predicting his trips while also pulling him further towards the floor.
With the struggle getting them nowhere, Sandra decided to stop forcing her foe into submission and threw him across the countryside, sending the Super Saiyan 3 crashing through several hills. Upon which she spun and shot her foot out, unleashing a golden blast from her heel that chased after her target.
Back flipping and deflecting the blast into the sky at the same time, Gohan thrust both hands forward and fired two ki blasts at his foe, only to see her teleport out of the way and reappear at his side. After blocking her left hook, the demi-Saiyan then lashed out with his own fists, only to see Sandra head slip his punches with ease, allowing him to aim a swift roundhouse kick at her leg. However, with her foot firmly planted to the ground, she blocked it with her knee. When Gohan continued attacking her legs and body with his roundhouse kicks, the woman either blocked them with her elbows or cut them off with her knees, repeatedly stomping her feet forward in between his attacks and wedging them inside the boy's stance, putting the hero off balance.
The moment she saw Gohan stumble Sandra stretched her arm across his chest and kicked his legs out from under him, knocking the teen into the air before dropping him into the floor. Smashing a crater into Pluto's surface, the demi-Saiyan spat up blood before the woman swung her leg up and dropped it down on him in the form of a glowing axe-kick. Deflecting the charged attack with a swift kick of his own and causing her foot to slam into the floor next to him, punching a hole straight down to the other side of the planet with explosive force, Gohan then began slamming scissors kicks into Sandra's outstretched legs, all in an effort to take them out. He then leapt off of the floor and kicked her square in the abs, only to knock himself back when she held her ground. He then lunged with a hook, but Sandra blocked it and drove a left straight into his chest, knocking the boy several yards back.
Stopping in his tracks, a winded Gohan looked up to see Sandra smirking at him.
"Sorry, stallion. But there's no way you'll be able to break my iron horse stance. In this position, my legs are as solid as bedrock and my body as strong as steel," Sandra gloated, gesturing to her lowered waist and straight posture. Despite the bruises on her face, the blood dribbling from her mouth and the massive damage she'd sustained from their fight, she was still standing firm and at the ready. "This form is the second most used in my arsenal and has allowed me to defeat hundreds of warriors across the cosmos… and it will do the same to you! Give me your best shot!"
Hearing this put a smirk on Gohan's face. "That's a pretty bold claim there. Fine. If this has become a game of endurance, then let's see who breaks first." Upon which he then slid his left foot out and brought his arms around in a smooth and graceful motion. When they stopped, his left arm was bent awkwardly while his right hovered over it, protecting his body in a forward position with a non-threatening and soft-looking kung fu style. Breathing deeply, as if he'd practiced this hundreds of times before, the Saiyan angled his toes inwards and smirked. "Wing Chun… Ng Mui."
Sandra chuckled as she once again assumed her solid, cross-armed stance, "Iron Cat Fist… Shiera Mao."
Upon announcing their styles and the teachers whom they practiced them under, both Gohan and Sandra paced around the icy field, their arms extended in their respective forms. As they lapped, both fighters powered up, their golden auras bursting around them and lightning beginning to dance across the planet's skies, till the bolts could be seen covering the entire planet. With the world crumbling beneath their feet from the very energy they were exuding, the stage was set for yet another, fast-paced hitting match.