After dusting herself down from the beating and focusing her ire on the one that'd knocked her into the hole, Tana then vanished in a blur of movement and shot straight up at her Super Saiyan adversary. Her speed shocking the winded Trunks, the hybrid was unable to guard in time when the canine warrior buried a fist into his stomach and grabbed him by the throat, knocking his aura out. As soon as she had her clawed fingers wrapped firmly around his windpipe, she then proceeded to apply pressure, drawing a strangled cry from the newly transformed youngster.
Krillin, looking up in alarm, stumbled forward, "Trunks! No! Ugh!" He then collapsed to his knee when his leg unexpectedly gave out. Gripping his shoulder tightly to ease the damage dealt there from his collision with Goten, the wounded man then glared up with an expression twisted in pain. "Damn it! My wing is clipped and Eighteen is grounded! What the hell are we going to do now?!"
They had to act fast otherwise the gutsy young prince was done for!
Chuckling when she heard the strangled gasps and cries coming from her young opponent, Tana held the boy out further and applied even more pressure. When another yell threatened to escape his throat, the woman silenced him with a quick shake of her arm. "How do you like that?! Huh? Not so tough now are yah, you little spit fuck?!" Her expression darkening, the muscles in her arm tensed as she proceeded to close the curtain.
Even with two Super Saiyans on their team, the group she was fighting was poultry compared to the people her companions were fighting. As far as she was concerned, this battle was a walk in the park for her. There was nothing these cretins could throw at her that could harm her in any way.
Drawing her baton from her belt line with her free arm, Tana quickly ignited it and drew it back. A malicious grin formed across her snout as she took aim at the child in her grasp, "Well, kid. It's been fun. Time for you to die." She then thrust forward with a yell…
Only to stop suddenly when a flash of pink light passed through her in the form of a drill-shaped beam from below.
Eyes widening in horror as her pupils went blank, the female warrior choked up blood and released the young Super Saiyan from her grasp. Dropping her baton at the same time, the woman quickly slapped her hands over the gaping hole that'd been punched through her stomach and reeled forward in shock. Mouth open and emitting a cry of shock, the woman dropped down from the sky and landed clumsily several yards from where Trunks had hit the sand.
While the boy quickly picked himself up and gasped for air, Tana stumbled down the hill, blood dribbling from her mouth as she glared up at her opponents.
"W-Who the hell did that?!"
Everyone's eyes quickly snapped in the direction the shot had come from. When Krillin and Eighteen tracked the source to the bottom of the dune, they saw Videl standing there with her two fingers pointed upwards and a sly grin on her face.
The realization that the attack originated from her drew a series of shocked blinks from everyone who was present. It wasn't just because it was the teenager that'd landed the crippling blow, but the fact that it was a Special Beam Cannon made the moment that much more bewildering.
A chuckle quickly left the tomboy's lips as she allowed her arm to drop and, while Trunks and Goten slowly picked themselves off of the ground, she jabbed a finger in the stunned Tana's direction. "Surprise."
Krillin was staggered. "Videl? W-When did you…?"
"Piccolo and Gohan taught me that move a few weeks ago," the girl explained, wiping a thumb under her nose triumphantly. "Took me a while, but I finally managed to get it."
The revelation put a smile on the bruised Eighteen's face, "I see. Bravo."
The teen grinned at the praise. But her moment of victory was short lived when, following a spine chilling cry of rage, the girl looked ahead to see Tana charging at her across the dunes at blinding speed. Completely ignoring the grievous wound in her stomach, the dog woman bellowed at the top of her lungs as she dashed towards the tomboy like a rhino, with her talons bared and a manic look in her eye. Before Videl could effectively respond, the minor deity was already on top of her and driving a kick into her guard.
A shockwave rang out as Videl was sent spiraling into the sky, with a furious Tana in hot pursuit.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" the dog barked loudly, drawing her last baton and igniting it as she rocketed towards the stunned girl. "Burn in hell, you fucking insect!"
Looking down in shock, the raven haired teen crossed her arms over her face to once again protect herself from the blow to come. But just as the Ibizan female was swinging down at her, she was suddenly struck from the side by a Super Saiyan Goten and a Super Saiyan Trunks charging in and burying two kicks into her cheek. The blow echoing across the countryside, they effectively sent the woman plummeting to the ground to crash painfully into a sand dune a full kilometer away.
Upon effectively burying the woman, the two kids and Videl landed back onto solid ground, where they were shortly joined by Eighteen and Krillin. Though all of them were sporting a wide array of bruises and were aching all over, the five warriors rallied together and faced the crash site over the hills with a renewed sense of vigor and determination. Seeing the cloud of dust begin to part in the distance, the group then braced themselves when they saw a silhouette rise from the crater and, cutting her way through the veil, a bleeding and wounded Tana staggered into the sunlight.
Her fangs bared in a show of rage, a snarl soon left the woman's lips as she powered up and fixed her crosshairs upon her targets. Blue fire exploding off of her body, Tana let out a very wolfish howl before darting towards them at comet speed.
"Let's finish her off!" Krillin shouted.
"Yeah!" Goten agreed, his golden aura blasting off of him while Trunks powered up as well.
Following each other's lead, the five took off from the hill and rocketed across the valley, meeting the infuriated Tana halfway and greeting her with a simultaneous attack. The moment the two parties collided, a massive shockwave blasted outwards, sending a wall of sand in all directions before a series of miniature shockwaves began to fill the air. At the center of the cataclysm, the five Z-fighters could be seen unleashing an onslaught of attacks upon their wounded opponent, who yelled out with every blow she intercepted with her own.
The group's fists intercepted Tana's repeatedly. Their yells filled the air, accompanying the chorus of deafening gunfire from their continuously overlapping blows. Over the next few seconds, the two parties were locked in stalemate, attempting to land a decisive hit on the other team. It seemed like Krillin and his allies had the powerful dog on the ropes. But when the woman jabbed out with her flaming baton and knocked Trunks away, it became glaringly obvious the fight wasn't over yet.
With a roar of effort, the canine warrior slammed a kick into Videl's side and sent her blasting across the dunes. She then attempted to finish her with a blast, but Goten suddenly jumped up from below with a knee to her face, followed by Krillin leaping back a distance and pitching a Destructo Disk towards the stunned woman.
Gasping, Tana slipped to the side, avoiding the golden disk that arced around from behind the demi-Saiyan and threatened to cut her in half. When she watched it soar off after barely grazing her shoulder, she grinned, "Ha! Missed!" Her expression then became one of surprise when a second disk came from Goten's other side and sliced her right arm clean off.
When her limb went flying, the dog woman looked at her stump of a limb in disbelief while a triumphant Android Eighteen landed beside her husband.
"Good one, honey!" Krillin exclaimed.
Gawking at the loss of her arm and the bolt of pain that shot through her as a result, the Ibizan hybrid growled and, her eyes snapping towards the group scattered in front of her, allowed her energy to skyrocket. Blue flames exploded from Tana's shoulders when she reeled her head back and, with a bellow of rage, unleashed a crushing blast of wind towards the trio. Her attack easily knocked a shocked Goten flying, while also sending Krillin and Eighteen bouncing across the sand. Under the raging gale, sand and debris flew in all directions, tearing across the desert for well over fifty kilometers until it settled down moments later.
By the time the wind had stopped, not only had the five Z-fighters been knocked onto their asses, but the ocean of dunes had shifted dramatically from the point the cyclone had hit.
Goten, being the closest to the center, struggled onto his hands and looked up through a pained expression. When his vision cleared, he gasped fearfully when he saw Tana standing directly in front of him.
With the wound in her chest and her stump of an arm still dripping with blood, plus even more coming out of her mouth, from the way the woman grinned manically down at the child with veins in her eyes, she looked like the most terrifying dog the demi-Saiyan had ever seen. Gulping nervously, the blonde hybrid backpedaled, only to see the canine lift her baton and point it down at him.
"Enough of these stupid games. You first," Tana stated, an evil laugh leaving her blood soaked mouth as she loaded her weapon for a lunge. "Die!"
But just before she could launch her attack, a hand suddenly shot out from behind and grabbed the back of her head, drawing a gasp of shock from the woman. The fingers clamping down on her skull like a vice, a stunned Tana then found her face forcefully turned around by the ridiculously strong figure. Her body following the rotation, the hybrid soon found herself staring into the face of a tall green demon.
The sight of the white haired, horned stranger caused the noticeably shorter dog alien to shudder in horror.
As her eyes stared into the wide, intimidating ones of the creature holding her by the head, the wounded Tana choked, "Who…Who are you?!"
Goten, spotting the green figure wearing the black halter top, blue obi and black pants standing behind the minion, had to take a couple of moments before he eventually recognized them. A wash of delight spreading over his face, the young Super Saiyan crawled forward and addressed the newcomer, "Paprika! You came!"
Assumed in her Super Makyan form, the scarf-wearing, self-proclaimed rival of Son Gohan spared her friend from the mountains a momentary smile before turning her death stare back towards her quarry.
Mouth agape in shock, Tana quickly regained her sense of self-preservation and, cranking back her baton, attempted to drive it into the woman's stomach. But the stranger effortlessly caught her wrist and, with a quick twist, broke the dog's hand and disarmed her, drawing a cry of agony from the wounded minion as she was woman-handled by the demon.
Krillin, Videl, Eighteen and Trunks, all of whom were now back on their feet, were looking on in relief as their powerful ally from Mount Paozu made short work of her opponent's weapon.
Upon releasing the canine's arm, Paprika smirked. "Allow me to take this moment to congratulate you for making it this far. Judging from how sloppy your fighting skills are, I'm surprised you were able to give my friends as much trouble as you did. Good job, worm. But now that you're on your last legs, I guess it's time I stepped in and finished things up for them."
Panting heavily, the now nervous looking Tana stared back at the demon fearfully, "W-What are you… where the hell did you come from?" It was then she was silenced when a more menacing expression came over the Makyan's face and an overwhelming sensation of killing intent came crushing down on top of her.
A shadow appearing over her eyes, Paprika got her face close enough to the dog woman to show her the anger she had burning inside. "If you thought that you could come to my planet, blast the hell out of my homeland, and torture and murder my best friend, then you're sadly mistaken. Nobody harms Goten and gets away with it." She then promptly lifted her other hand and grabbed the woman by the face, muzzling her snout. Upon which she glanced across at the child kneeling on the ground behind the canine. "Close your eyes, runt."
Nodding in understanding, Goten did just that, sticking his fingers in his ears for good measure.
"Damn you… damn you!" Tana practically yelled, her curses stifled by the woman's palm when the Makyan looked back at her. "I'll kill you!"
Paprika then gave the fiend one last look, her red eyes filling the dog with a sense of terror and dread. "You can apologize for your sins in the afterlife."
Then, without warning or hesitation, bolts of green lightning began streaming into the canine woman's head. Eyes bugging out of their sockets, Tana let out a scream of agony as her brain was literally cooked from the inside out, currents of electricity running up and down her body. Several seconds of twitching and jerking later, the dog's head exploded, blood gushing down as Paprika carelessly tossed the corpse away, allowing it to roll to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Upon wiping her hand off, the Super Makyan then turned back to Goten and smiled.
"You can open your eyes now."
"What?!" the blonde hybrid shouted, unable to hear anything due to his fingers in his ears.
Rolling her pupils, Paprika walked forward and gently moved the boy's arms back down, drawing his gaze up to her. When she knelt in front of him, the demi-Saiyan grinned and giggled, giving his friend from the mountains a hug. By the time the two broke away, Krillin, Videl, Eighteen and Trunks had limped over to them, the former of whom took a moment to look down the hill and at the body of their former adversary.
A gulp quickly followed his inspection. "Well… that was unnecessarily brutal."
"Speak for yourself," Eighteen spoke, arms folded as she too spared their deceased opponent a glance. "I think it was entirely appropriate… given how badly she was beating us."
The short fighter then shrugged, "Meh. Fair enough." He then looked across at Paprika and smiled gratefully in her direction. "Thanks so much for the save. You really pulled our butts out of the fire there."
"Yeah. Thanks a lot, Paprika," the still Super Saiyan Trunks chirped as he too beamed brightly at his friend's playmate.
They'd all been so caught up in trying to beat their enemy that neither one of them had noticed the Makyan's arrival. It was a good thing that she jumped in when she did because if she hadn't interfered in that last second, then something nasty would've happened to the youngest member of their troop.
A nod quickly followed the group's praise and thanks. "You're welcome." Hands on her hips, Paprika slowly directed her gaze across the desert to where the other members of the team were fighting.
As she did so, Krillin then sensed a second figure step up behind him and turned to see Videl right on his three o'clock, looking at the man with desperation in her eyes. The sight of the teen had the former monk blink in surprise, "Oh. Hey Videl. What's up?"
"Do you have any Senzu Beans left?" the tomboy asked, giving the man a hopeful once over.
Realizing instantly what the girl intended to do, Krillin quickly fished for his trusted bag and, after digging around for a bit, pulled out a couple and handed them to her. "These are for Gohan, yeah?" When he saw her acknowledge the question with a nod, the man too gestured in understanding. "Be careful. That Set woman might still be there."
"I will. Thank you." Giving her friend a warm smile, Videl quickly took off, powering up and rocketing towards the pyramids in the distance.
Upon seeing the raven haired girl leave, the Z-warriors quickly turned to each other and took in their current conditions. It was while she was watching the group take stock of their injuries that Paprika then glanced across at Eighteen. Figuring she would be the most well-informed and mature of the lot, the white haired teen nodded towards the cyborg curiously.
"So… want to fill me in on what the heck's going on?"
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