"There they are!"
Krillin dropped from the sky with Master Roshi on his back and drove a heavy punch toward Yunba the moment they reached the battlefield. Yunba caught the blow in one hand, looking more amused than threatened when he recognized his opponent.
"Well, look who it is."
Krillin pulled away and landed a short distance from him while Roshi hopped down beside him.
"I'm not the same as last time," Krillin warned. "I spent these two months training."
Yunba cracked a grin. "Good. Then maybe this'll actually be fun."
Roshi, however, had stopped paying attention to him entirely.
Three female prisoners were standing behind Yunba, and the old martial artist's eyes immediately followed them instead. They were attractive enough that Roshi's serious expression vanished almost instantly.
One of the women glanced toward Yunba. "We're not interested in your rematch. We're going somewhere else to have some fun."
"Do whatever you want."
The three women took off toward a nearby forest, and Roshi watched them go with growing despair.
Krillin had already settled into a fighting stance. "Master Roshi, this guy's strong. We should take him together."
Roshi suddenly became solemn. "Krillin, a student shouldn't always depend on his master. Some opponents must be faced alone."
Krillin actually hesitated, moved by the unexpected wisdom.
Then Roshi turned toward the forest.
"I'll handle those three."
He disappeared after the women before Krillin could say anything.
Krillin stood there speechless just long enough for Yunba to capitalize on it. A fist crashed into the side of his head and sent him through a nearby building, burying him in rubble.
"Damn it!"
Krillin burst back out and charged Yunba, and the two immediately fell into a close-range exchange.
Elsewhere on Earth, Gohan, Kale, Piccolo, and Jaco were about to face opponents they already knew far too well.
Shimorekka descended alone and landed in front of them.
Piccolo frowned. "Just you?"
That question was answered when two hands suddenly appeared behind him and Kale.
Seven-Three had approached while invisible.
Before either of them could react, he clamped a hand around the back of each of their necks.
Gohan's expression changed instantly. "No!"
Piccolo twisted in shock. "When did he—"
Shimorekka laughed. "That's an ability he copied from an invisible species. You people are still way too easy to fool."
Jaco looked ready to tear his hair out. "I warned you about his neck-grabbing thing! How did this happen again?"
Seven-Three released them once the copying process was complete, and Shimorekka's grin widened.
"All that training you did was pointless. Seven-Three just copied the strength you have now."
Piccolo's face hardened, while Kale clenched her fists in humiliation. Gohan looked even angrier than either of them.
Seven-Three immediately retreated to a distant hilltop and raised two fingers to his forehead.
Jaco recognized the stance. "He's using Piccolo's ability again!"
Energy spiraled around Seven-Three's fingertips as he finished charging the attack.
Shimorekka spread his arms triumphantly. "Go ahead and die to your own technique!"
Gohan stepped forward before it could reach them and created a rapidly spinning circular barrier. Kale placed one hand against his back and poured her energy into him, reinforcing the shield as the spiraling beam slammed into its surface.
The collision drove Gohan backward, but with Kale continuously feeding him power, the barrier held.
Jaco stared. "A shield? And Goku's son is finally doing something too."
Gohan ignored him and increased the barrier's rotation. The incoming attack began losing ground as the spinning force redirected its momentum, and Piccolo used the opening to finish charging an attack of his own.
"Makankosappo!"
Piccolo's beam struck Seven-Three's from the side, overwhelming the copied technique and forcing the combined energy straight back toward its source.
Seven-Three tried to evade, but the explosion swallowed the entire hilltop.
When the smoke cleared, half of his body was gone.
Piccolo allowed himself a small smile. "Infinite stamina doesn't mean you can instantly recover from everything."
Shimorekka stared at Seven-Three's ruined body. "How did they pull that off?"
Seven-Three answered by regenerating the missing half of himself, but the exchange had already proven something important.
"We knew there was a chance he'd copy us again," Gohan said. "So we prepared for it."
Shimorekka glared at him. "He didn't even copy you. Stop acting like this was your big plan."
Gohan fell silent.
Kale immediately bristled. "Don't talk to Gohan-nii like that. I'll beat you up too when I'm finished with him."
Shimorekka ignored the threat and turned toward Seven-Three instead.
"Switch to the girl's abilities."
"Understood."
The crystal on Seven-Three's forehead changed.
Power erupted from his body as he activated the abilities copied from Kale, sending a violent surge of energy across the battlefield. He immediately fired a barrage toward the group, forcing Gohan, Kale, and Piccolo into the air.
Gohan countered by sending a deep-red energy sphere toward Seven-Three. Kale landed on top of the moving blast and used it as a platform to accelerate, riding it straight through the incoming fire before launching herself from it at the last instant.
Seven-Three barely had time to react.
Kale grabbed his head and drove him face-first into the ground.
The impact shattered the earth beneath them, but she kept hold of him, caught one ankle, and began smashing his body from side to side with the same overwhelming strength she had used in their previous fight.
Seven-Three had copied her power.
It still wasn't enough.
Piccolo noticed it immediately.
"Gohan, are you seeing this?"
Gohan watched Kale continue battering Seven-Three without giving him any room to retaliate. "What?"
"He copied Kale's abilities, but once they actually started fighting, she was clearly stronger than him."
Gohan studied the difference more carefully. Seven-Three should have possessed the same raw power Kale had when he copied her, yet the gap between them was already growing.
"Maybe it's because she's the Legendary Super Saiyan," he said. "Her power can suddenly explode far beyond where it started."
Piccolo's eyes narrowed as he watched Kale slam Seven-Three into the ground again.
"If that's true, then there's at least one thing his Copy Ability can't reproduce."
Seven-Three could steal Kale's power.
But whatever allowed that power to keep surging higher once the battle began still belonged to Kale alone.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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