A wide grin appearing when he heard the teen's declaration, Sandra rolled her shoulder and stepped up as well. "Excellent. I'm glad to see there's a bit of Saiyan in you after all."
"Hey. You came all this way to our planet just to say hello and to challenge us to a friendly contest? Hell, unlike some of the other aliens we've fought in the past, you guys are one of the friendliest groups of invaders we've ever had… and that's saying a lot," Gohan chuckled, while at the same time adjusting the wrist band on his right arm. "After the horrible way we treated your friends the entire morning, I'd say you guys have earned something in return for your troubles. I just hope my challenge will be enough of an apology." When he looked back at the rest of his team, he saw many of them look away in embarrassment, while people like Android 18 and Vegeta remained completely unshaken.
Maya, hearing the hybrid's remarks, smirked across at him in amusement, "You know… you could just say you're sorry."
Shaking her head at her friend, the Saiyan Empress beamed across at her now formal opponent, "I'm sure your acceptance is more than substantial." She then pointed around at the silver spheres floating in the area. "These mobile cameras have been hooked into every single one of the planet's internet and satellite channels, and will be transmitting a live feed of our battle to every corner of the globe at an appropriate frame rate. This way, not only will the people of your world be able to get a clear, inside view of all of our battles, but by the end of the day, everyone will know what the official score will be."
Gohan gestured to the woman in understanding, "Good. So long as they're not going to interfere with our fight, then I'm completely cool with that." After assuring himself that he'd made the right decision, the teen then narrowed his eyes into a serious scowl. "The terms and conditions of our battle will remain the same, I hope?"
Sandra nodded, "Of course. Win or lose, my group and I promise not to bring any harm to your friends or to the people of this planet. It would be a major upset and a great dishonor on my part if either of us were to resort to Frieza's level of conduct." She then lowered her head and eyed her opponent mischievously. "However, depending on how well you do against me, I just might be tempted to induct you and the entire Earth into the ranks of the New Saiyan Empire."
Chuckling at the leader's little joke, the demi-Saiyan then clenched his fists tightly, "I wouldn't be so confident if I were you. As your friends may have already noticed, you're not dealing with an ordinary group of fighters here. I myself have gone through quite a few battles over the past several years and after all the opponents I've fought… I managed to pick up a few tricks."
"Oh? And what kind of tricks would they be?" Sandra asked, goading the young man to show his hand first.
This teasing jab was more than enough to have Gohan widen his stance, which signaled the other Z-fighters positioned behind him to brace themselves. "Tricks like this." His stare hardening, the young half-Saiyan then summoned all the energy he could muster, resulting in a ripple of heat waves rising off of his body and chains of electricity crackling across the cobblestone floor. It was these sudden anomalies in the atmosphere that alerted Sandra and her cohorts to their opponent's rising power level, which had Maya, Kure and Cal look upon the young man with a mixture of shock and awe.
A split second later, a fierce wind kicked up around Gohan and a loud, pained scream left his lips. This was quickly followed by a series of dull thumping sounds as his arms, chest and legs bulked up, and a barrage of lightning strikes shot off of his person and hit the earth around him.
Then, with a bellowing howl, Gohan's body was enveloped in a blinding flash of light, which sent a shockwave rolling across the courtyard in all directions. This deafening sonic boom cracked the floor and rattled the buildings, startling King Koku and the Central City people watching from the sidelines many yards away. When the white flash faded shortly thereafter, it revealed the adult hybrid in his full, Super Saiyan 3 glory. His impressive golden hair had grown all the way down to his knees and was now wafting in an electric, golden aura, with bolts of blue lightning running up and down his person. Furthermore, not only had his eyebrows seemingly disintegrated, but his face and muscles had become far more pronounced, rounded out by two bangs hanging over his forehead as opposed to the usual one.
As soon as his aura stabilized, the young adult warrior straightened up into a normal stance as he stood in the center of the courtyard, kicking up dust and debris, and scaring the hell out of his comrades. It wasn't just the fact that the teen looked scary, but his power level was also massive. Since they were all stationed a few yards away from him, they were getting the full, ki readout experience, as the demi-Saiyan's energy was now quite literally blasting them in the face.
"Holy cow… Gohan is stronger than he's ever been," Tien thought, sweat dripping down his face as dust washed over their group. "There's no way a normal person can generate that much power. It's unreal."
Yamcha, unable to hide his own shock, stood trembling alongside the gaping Krillin, Android 18 and Bulma. "There's so much energy radiating off of him that I can't stop shaking. Geez. How can the others even stand near him right now?"
The only people who didn't seem affected by this were Zangya and Vegeta, both of whom continued to hold their ground and watch the performance unfold.
As for Sandra and her crew, while the female Saiyan looked mildly surprised, her teammates were all stunned when they saw the boy's transformation. They didn't even bother reading the numbers that jumped up on their visors, as they could pretty much feel the amount of energy coming off of the boy through their armor.
"Wow," Kure murmured, her eyes shimmering in disbelief, "It's amazing."
"You can say that again," Cal added at the end, his own stunned expression hidden by his visor.
Standing inside his aura of electric gold, a fully powered and confident Gohan then threw his would-be opponent a smirk. "Well? What do you think? Pretty cool, huh?"
Upon hearing the boy's remark, the raven haired female quickly glanced over her shoulder and, drawing her subordinates' gazes towards her, nodded in their direction. Complying with her partner's silent instruction, Maya and her compatriots quickly began removing the armor covering their bodies. The helmets came off first, quickly followed by the gloves, gauntlets, boots, shoulder guards, and chest plates. The ruined capes also joined the collection of metallic parts which, upon impacting the cobblestone ground, punched miniature craters into the floor at the sheer force that they were dropped.
It was when the groups saw the first sets of clothing hit the ground that Zangya, Gohan and the rest of the Z-fighters blinked in surprise, with the former quickly addressing the issue.
"Whoa. What the heck is that all about?" the Hera asked.
Seeing the huge holes each armor plate was making in the ground, Tien quickly deduced what was going on, "That's no ordinary weighted armor. Each of those blocks looks like they weigh around a hundred kilos each."
While Maya was taking off the bottom portion of her armor, bending over in a rather alluring manner, Sandra turned towards the confused group of heroes with a smirk. "Not even close. To be more precise, each block was hand crafted out of refined dwarf star material, meaning the suits each weigh over five thousand tons apiece. In the months we were traveling here through slip space, my friends and I have been training extra hard in preparation for our eventual confrontation. On top of the extra gravity of our planet, we were also wearing these custom made combat armors to help increase our strength."
Hearing this had Krillin gape in shock. "A thousand tons apiece? That's insane!"
Kure, removing the last plate from her shoulder, smiled across at the group with a proud look in her eyes. "It's perfectly safe. Each suit is built with an automatic locking system to prevent the wearer from damaging their surroundings. It's one of the most advanced and effective training units designed by my people, and are ideal for on-the-move conditioning." She then tossed the plate over her shoulder. After arcing through the air, the piece then slammed into the ground behind her with a deafening 'bang', punching a huge crater into the floor, and sending a cloud of dust and rubble shooting three stories into the air.
Once the rumbling from the dropped shoulder plate stopped, Sandra cocked her head to the side. "Normally armor is worn in order to defend users against attacks from the outside. But in our case… it's a little bit different." When she saw Maya and Cal were done removing their gear, the female Saiyan smirked. "We wear it to suppress our power and protect our opponents from harm."
Through their awe and shock, the Z-fighters began checking out the uniforms the group had been wearing under the suits. While the burly robot and the spider tank hadn't done anything with their appearances, the organic beings among them definitely had.
The feline humanoid Kure had an attractive, figure-hugging elastic space suit, which was designed with navy blue sections on the arms, back and leggings, and white portions around the chest, torso and trim areas. She also had red padded shoulder, elbow, knuckle and shin plates, providing extra protections where there was none.
Maya meanwhile was sporting a very tasteful, one-piece blue spandex suit, which hugged at her body and showed off her smooth, dark skin and shapely fighter's figure. She also had her tail wrapped around her waist, her ridiculous amounts of hair done up into a ponytail, and wore the standard white Saiyan boots and gloves on each limb.
As for Cal, the man revealed to the group that he was in fact a very large, humanoid male in his prime, with a hulking, Schwarzenegger-like body, adorned in a full-fitting, grey spandex suit, grey boots and grey gloves. Furthermore, to match his chiseled frame, he also had a very tough, but also a kindly sort of face, with short, black hair that was combed, and a single bang hanging in front of his forehead.
Upon seeing the rest of the invaders rise to full height and form up behind their leader, the still Super Saiyan 3 Gohan raised an eyebrow and looked towards Sandra with an inquisitive smirk. "You're definitely a lot stronger than the average fighters, there's no arguing that." He then lowered his head a little, "However… after seeing what I can do, are you sure you're still up for this fight? Because I gotta warn you, this isn't any ordinary transformation-"
"Oh, my friends and I are already well aware of the Super Saiyan transformations; the legendary state that grants any Saiyans who've mastered it enormous strength and power, allowing them to fight against beings of the highest possible class and caliber," Sandra informed, putting a momentary look of surprise on the teen's face. "I wouldn't have traveled all this way for a fight without at least knowing this much."
Frowning, the demi-Saiyan then regarded the leader with greater interest and intent. "So… what happens next?"
An excited grin appearing, Sandra then clenched her fists at her sides. "Now that I've seen what you've got, it's only fair that I show you what I've got." Her expression tightening fiercely, the female then spent the next couple of seconds focusing the energy inside her body. After heat waves and wind began to bellow around her, the young leader then brought her arms up and, with a roar of pain and effort, threw them downwards as a golden aura exploded from her body with a thunderous shockwave. In the blink of an eye, the proud female leader's hair turned gold, spiked up, and grew down her back, with her muscles bulking up significantly and her eyebrows vanishing into her forehead. To accompany her instantaneous change in features, a storm of lightning blasted off of her frame, sending a second shockwave rippling across the landscape and splitting the earth beneath her.
The moment her body became enveloped in her electrical, golden aura, complete with a bio-field of blue lightning, the Saiyan Empress relaxed, allowing the Z-fighters to gape openly at her newly transformed state.
Without even the slightest bit of effort, the interstellar traveler had managed to transform into a Super Saiyan 3.
When she saw the demi-Saiyan in front of her gawk in disbelief, the now more muscular and battle-ready Sandra chuckled in amusement. "So… did that feel as good for you as it did for me?"
Just like Gohan; Zangya, Vegeta, Goten, Trunks, Paprika, Videl, Android 18 and all the other Z-fighters, were speechless.
Krillin gulped, "OOooh…"
"-Shit," Zangya finished.