>>5448312Crossing your arms and chuckling lightly, you tell her, “You see Keli, I’ve managed that kind of boost in strength… through the Power of Love!”
She blinks and states at you blankly. “I… see?”
“See, it goes back to the fight for the Black Star Dragon Balls, and… Gohan trying to stop Baby. I hit a level of rage I never really knew I was capable of before. But once it was over, I realized that wasn’t what was actually fueling the power. It was love. Love for friends, family, people I care about and want to protect.” You place your hands on your hips, tail swaying behind you happily. “I still haven’t been able to access all my Super Saiyan strength without transforming yet, but that push let me draw out more, even going beyond it for a brief moment.”
“Hah, you never fail to impress, Peppa.” She stretches a bit, then asks, “You want to keep sparring?”
“I think it’d be better to try some image training, actually.” You nod to the skycraper you came out of, attempting to take a seat… and causing it to stumble and implode in on itself. “…Aheh, whoops.” She laughs a little, then follows you over to a much more sturdy-looking abandoned building. The two of you get into meditative stances, calming your minds. Before you two begin, though, you ask her, “Say, you think you might be able to work on that barrier trap idea in image training?”
“I might be able to better visualize it, but it’s not something I can pick up in a day. Especially with how much more I have to learn about Forced Spirit Fission.” she replies, and you notice she’s still got the Makaio-ken on. “Okay, ready.”
You nod and close your eyes. In your mind’s eye, you imagine continuing the match against her, keeping up the blocking. As Keli starts to draw out more and more energy… she feeds it into Spirit Bits, which surround the two of you. Finally it starts to really affect you, and as you attempt to escape the barrier, you find that you can’t. It’s… a very vivid experience, so vivid that you end up stumbling out of the meditation. “W-woah…”
“You okay?” Keli asks with concern.
“Yeah, yeah. Man, even just imagining what it’ll be like is… something else.” You get back into a meditative stance, relaxing again. This time you image train on drawing out more of your power without transforming. It does feel like you can only barely get below Super Saiyan, but that final push feels… substantial. It’s not your full power, but it’s definitely a jump closer to 2. It’s also something not easy to maintain either. Yes it’s your power, but it’s also your body trying to throttle it without “bracing” for that power, so to speak. At the same time, no one but Keli is going to expect you to pull off something like this. It can work as both a bluff and a surprise attack.
(cont.)