In between punches and thoughts (Tomoroko)

The good thing about everything was that Tomoroko was actually having fun, and that gave Natto some peace of mind, since the train consisted on they hurting each other quite a lot. When he was finally free from her grapple, she claimed that she didn’t forget about his tail, but never expected him to use it since he kept it well-wrapped around his waist in the belt-like fashion most saiyans used. She said that among some exclamations of pain, with blood and tears running down her face, as she flew backwards, to put a little more distance between the two of them. Natto, however, couldn’t keep his angry face as he looked at the young saiyan girl and a small smile appeared on his face when he saw her shaking of her head. ”Cute!” he thought to himself, blushing slightly.

– Just because I kept it wrapped doesn’t mean I unskilled with my tail. You could’ve also tried to grab it… - he pointed out, even though it would be ineffective against him, but she wouldn’t know by then.

After that she apologized for tricking him, but she had, indeed, a good reason to do that and also said that he shouldn’t hold back, since they would only be able to truly become stronger if they took the training session seriously, to which he nodded, agreeing with her. Following that, she flew straight at him as she built energy on her right fist again. In response to that, Natto charged up energy on his right fist, making a flame-like ki aura to engulf it as she approached. ”Time to show her my skills!” he smirked as he also rushed forward.

Natto would start with a sequence of three jabs to her face, with his left hand, as he got into melee range. They weren’t actually supposed to hit, though he wouldn’t avoid hitting if that came to happen, their main goal was to focus her attention on dodging/blocking them so that he could roundhouse kick her with his left hand to the ribcage, with the objective of breaking her guard to the main dish: Should the kick land, he would immediately twist his hips, to bring his right fist, engulfed in blue colored energy, to land an energy punch to Tomoroko’s face, with all his strength.

Shall the punch lend, it was only the first part of his main technique. The punch would send her body sailing through the air and, immediately after that, he would stretch his hand, opening his palm. – Let’s see how I deal with this! Tyrant Lancer!!! – he shouted, as he fired a big blue-colored energy wave towards her at high speed. ”Come on, Tomo! Dodge! I’m open at my right side!” deep inside his mind, he was cheering that she would be able to counter him at that specific moment, even though it was quite hard, since he was using his full available speed.

The two of them exchanged blows for a while, blocking each other’s attacks until she ki blasted, making them distance from one another a little bit due to the explosion. Just after that, Natto dashed forward, throwing kick to the rib cage when the opening appeared, making Tomoroko wince and a loud “crack” to be heard. In the heat of the moment, Natto didn’t quite related the sound to the cracking of the bones, so he kept on pushing her harder and harder. In response to that, she tried to punch him, but he managed to dodge it and hit her with his energy punch right to the face, causing her to fly away quite a bit.

The young saiyan made a grimace when his fist hit Tomoroko in the face, making the girl complain about getting hit there again. ”Damn… I’m really aiming too much for the face… I guess it’s just my battle instinct… Oh my! Really not used to train with anyone besides my brother…” he thought to himself, realizing that the only person he had actually been training to was Miso, his elder brother, who enjoyed really intense training drills. To put into example, the last time they trained, Miso grabbed Natto’s tail and hammered him to the ground until the younger saiyan was barely able to move.

Anyway, Tomoroko was sailing through the air with her hands on her face again, since blood started dropping out again, and Natto used that momentum to fire his Tyrant Lancer, on his regular quickly charged version, to which she answered with her own rail gun. The beam struggle started and Tomoroko’s rail gun started to take the upper hand, since its power level was a little higher than what was left remaining from Natto’s Tyrant Lancer, since he split its power in between the energy punch and the wave. ”This attack is quite something!!” he thought, smiling with the corner of his mouth. Natto saw the girl flying away, but he had to deal with the remaining of her rail gun first.

With a hit from the back of his fist, he deflected it, making it fly towards a big rock nearby, blowing it to pieces. However, as soon as he did that, his scouter beeped warning him of an impending attack. As he turned his head, he saw Tomoroko pointing her hand towards him and firing a barrage of ki blasts. – Wow! – he exclaimed, as he crossed his arms in front of his face, bending his body to reduce the area of impact of the blasts, and then he stood there, receiving the blasts head on.

Blast after blast he endured, feeling the sting of pain as it hit him, scorching his arms too. After her attack, he was all covered by the smoke of the small explosions of her ki blasts, but her scouter would inform her that he was still in one piece and kicking. – Your Rail Gun is quite an attack, I’ll give you that! It overpowered my Tyrant Lancer and that is quite a feat, Tomo! – he said from inside the smoke, with pride in his voice, as he was quite happy with her feat.

As the smoke cleared, she could see Natto. His arms were a little scorched due to her attack. It did damage him quite a bit, but he was still completely capable of fighting. – You must have had great teachers! But that’s still not enough! – he said, smiling, but immediately after that, he rushed forward, continuing the training session. Natto would fly towards her flaring his ghostly-white ki aura around his body. As he closed in, he was quite open to being attack, almost like he was inviting it.

Should Tomoroko attack with ki blasts or punches, she would be doing exactly what he wanted, making Natto wait until the last second to somersault above it and spin his body, rolling it like a ball, only to attack the back of her head with a strong tail whip, with the objective of launching her to the ground with all his strength.

Should Tomoroko wait, she would frustrate his strategy and he would only try to land a knee to her stomach in a quite clear and avoidable movement.

His strategy worked very well. The moment she fired the ki blasts, Natto flew upwards, rolling his body for his brutal tail whip counter, sending Tomoroko straight into the dirt, opening a big crater as her body landed on the ground. Natto immediately turned around, staring at her. The young saiyan girl coughed and wheezed as she hit the ground and, with some effort, she managed to flip herself over onto her back. She was completely exhausted and really injured, which made Natto grimace, as he felt sort of guilty for pushing her so hard. ”But I don’t know any better way to train someone… That’s how it was been for me my whole life…” he said to himself, trying to feel less bad for beating Tomoroko so bad.

She said that it was all she’s got and he nodded, landing right next to her. The moment his feet touched the ground, the ground beneath him cracked, due to the weighted battle suit he was wearing, also making a loud noise. – I’m really proud of you… You are brave, resourceful… And you are strong! You are almost on an elite level… - he said, being very sincere. Natto himself was almost at Tomoroko’s power level when he got promoted to an elite warrior.

Natto kneeled beside Tomoroko and gently held the back of her head with his right hand. His left hand grabbed her by the back of the knees as he gently lifted her, in order to avoid hurting her any further. Slowly, he slid his right hand from the back of her head to the upper part of her back, getting up as he did that. – Okay! – he said when he felt that she was safely held. – We need to do something about those injuries now… - he said with a kind smile on his face. He had blushed a little when he held her on his arms, and she could feel his heart racing quite a bit, accelerating from the moment he held her on his arms. Suddenly, his face got serious and he sighed.

– I’ll help you remember everything… And I’ll do my best to take care of you while you get strong enough… Then, I promise I’ll not bother you so much… If you would rather follow your own path! – he blushed a little more as he said that, and he gazed away. He was feeling nervous. Natto still didn’t have anyone he could even call a friend, and saiyans were usually loners on their own ways. He didn’t quite like being lonely and even though Tomoroko was kinder than most, he wasn’t quite sure if she was the sticking around kind of person. He really hoped she was.

After that, he slowly took up flight, heading towards the medical facility in a short pace. It would take a while to get there at that rhythm.

He gulped when she spoke. Tomoroko said exactly what he wanted to hear: she wanted him to stick around even when she got stronger and that made him blush so much that his cheeks looked like a tomato. However, he was smiling in happiness. She would be sad if he left, and he would be sad if he had to leave. When she said that it sounded stupid, he shook his head in a negative way. – It is not stupid… I w-wanna stick with y-you too… - he said in a shaky tone, since he was embarrassed to say that out loud, but it just felt right. After that she leaned against him, making him feel a warm feeling taking over his body, with butterflies inside his stomach and shivers down his spine.

After that she asked if they could find out where she lived, once she was fully healed, to which he nodded. – Sure thing! First we’ve got to consider our options… Like, did you actually had a house, or did u rent a dorm like most of us, who were born on lower classes… - he mentioned that with a thoughtful expression. With that sentence, though, Natto told her that he wasn’t born a member of the elite of the saiyan army, meaning that he climbed his way up. – I, myself, live in a small rented dorm on the slums of the city… Well… Couldn’t ask for much, though… I spent most of my life abroad, conquering planets… Truth be told, I just managed to buy myself a new spacepod. – he said, chuckling a bit since he was admitting he was rather poor. – I might start saving up some money to buy a house soon! Maybe you are a rich girl, right?! And have a fancy house and stuff?! – he laughed with that thought, trying to lightening the mood, as he got closer to the healing facility, the same one he took her the day they met.

She found his theory funny, which made him chuckle too. Can you imagine? Being a saiyan princess, but a really nice one, on a complete different from that arrogant Luffa guy that he met on the war meeting a couple weeks ago. Then, when she brought up the assignments registry database, he nodded with a smile. – That’s exactly what I intend to do while you heal. – he said. ”To remember the mission assignment registry… Maybe she still has some fogged memory on how things work!” he thought to himself, feeling quite happy with that. – It would definitely help if you still had your scouter, but I’ll request a new one while you heal too. – he mentioned, as he got inside the facility by one of its windows, on the side of the building, where there was barely any soul roaming around.

As he got in, he headed straight into the room where the kagami named Nabana worked. The Kagami sighed at the sight of them. – Again? – he asked, with a bored tone, to which Natto responded by shrugging. – You know the drill… Also… While she gets healed, I’ve got something I need your help with… Something with the mission registry. – he mentioned, to which the kagami doctor sighed again, heading to the healing pod to set the machine to heal the sort of injuries Tomoroko had suffered. The young saiyan carefully put her inside the machine and smiled. – You also need some armor! I’ll see to it too, okay? Just focus on getting better! – he said, smiling to her and, after that, he took a few steps backwards, as Nabana closed the door on the pod.

As the liquid started to pour inside, both Natto and the kagami went to a side-room nearby, to look into the computer they had there. It would take quite a while, but Tomo’s healing would also take a few hours.