To be fair, finding Pepa isn’t particularly difficult.

If Pepa ever suffered a sudden amnesia attack, she’d be able to piece together her life practically moment by moment from both her own social media timeline, and those of her many followers who tended to send out their own trail of messages every time they saw her.

Today, for instance, she was out and about at Central City, touring the ruins that were still under repair in the wake of the attack by Lord Glacio.

Her social media timeline was dominated by photos of her standing in front of ruined buildings, shattered husks, and the golden memorial statue that had been erected for King Ches. It was only a little confused by the fact that Ches had returned and there was still a lot of uncertainty about whether or not the memorial would ultimately be pulled down or renovated, but it was there for now.

She had also posted up a series of insightful comments, such as:

All this destruction because some loser couldn’t let go of the past #friezaforcefail

Not all Changelings want to watch worlds burn #notallChangelings #forgetfrieza

What’s with all the royals dying lately? #RIPRadia

Man this strawberry shake is the best thing ever #shakebreak #strawesome

And indeed, she was enjoying a shake – that was not, in fact, fake news.

Whilst her actual interest in the devastation that had occurred on Earth and the struggles the planet had endured was questionable, Pepa’s enthusiasm for strawberry-flavoured treats was one hundred per cent genuine.

What she did really enjoy was the way that this nice and easy topic seemed to be helping her gain traction on Earth. The Earthlings themselves weren’t super savvy and interested, it seemed, in what it was to be a Super Saiyan, or the usual array of content that she put out there about martial arts, fighting, and galactic travel…

… but they sure did like it when an outsider seemed to show some basic sympathy to the plight of their people.

Of course, her comments were also full of people who were delighting in pointing out that the trials the planet had endured were, in no small part, down to the tortured history of the Saiyan Empire and the many other galactic rivals it faced on the wider stage of galactic society as it expanded out there and forced the Frieza Force to the brink.

She did not give even enough thought to all of that to downvote those comments, though. She’d always maintained that her brand was very strictly apolitical. She didn’t care who ruled the Saiyans, if they even had a ruler right now she hadn’t bothered to find out, or what was going on out there as great powers clashed to try and find space in the galaxy.

All she cared about was trying to find a way to keep herself in the spotlight, and keep Super Saiyan Pepa trending in as many outlets as she could.

As she kicked her heels, sat on a bench opposite the memorial, sipping her strawberry shake, she was pleased to see that her strategy seemed to be paying dividends so far.

(Wordcount: 526)

The Newcomer Elrick

Pepa’s gaze lifted up as Elrick approached. Her eyebrow shot up, and her scouter gave a little beep as she directed the device telepathically to scan the Earthling.

A power level of just over four thousand? It wasn’t much on a cosmic scale, but by the standards of his race it showed either exceptional talent or dedication to training – definitely not something to be ashamed of. You didn’t generally get that strong without being able to manipulate ki on some level, so… he clearly knew what he was doing, at least on a basic level.

“Yup, that’s me, your gal Super Saiyan Pepa!”

She flashed a smile as she stood up from the bench, and flicked the empty milkshake over her shoulder, where it hit the lip of a trash receptacle, rolled around a couple of times… and then fell out onto the floor, which made her eyebrow quirk in irritation.

But she rallied quickly, not wanting to acknowledge the tiny failure, and instead press on with the interesting guy standing in front of her.

“I’m guessing you’ve seen most of my videos.” She continued, “The ones where I talk about the basics of training and stuff? That’s kind of the ‘crash course’ you know.”

She gave a languid shrug of her shoulders, contemplating the man before her. He was around her age, but he was clearly incredibly excited to be meeting her – and it was always flattering to be asked to share her training.

“Tell you what, though. Let’s go somewhere we’re not going to cause a panic, and you can show me what you’ve learned so far, okay?”

She held out her hand in offer to him. Whilst it was vaguely tempting to start a full-on training session right here at the memorial, even she wasn’t quite so stupid as to think she could get away with that without causing the kind of outcry that would do more harm than good. She’d built up a lot of goodwill with the Earthlings so far – at least, most of them, there were always some who would take offense at anything – there was no need to squander that.

If he took her hand, she’d also get to show off a little bit more.

Because all she had to do was touch two fingers to her forehead, and with a blur of motion, both of them would be transported to an area of rocky wasteland she’d scouted on her arrival at the planet; perfect for training without causing rampant devastation to the local population… and it just so happened to be thousands of miles away from Central City.

But hey. What’s the point of learning these awesome skills if you can’t use them to show off? And that Instant Transmission technique was one she was extremely proud of. Unlocking its secrets had made her galactic tour infinitely easier than it would have been if she’d had to rely on ships! Though she hadn’t even hinted at how to accomplish it through any of her public videos.

(Wordcount: 524/1050 The Newcomer Elrick )

“Yeah, pretty cool, right?” Pepa grinned, pleased with Elrick’s reaction to her casual display of power. "It took me ages to figure out, but if you can learn to control and sense energy accurately enough, you can get there too. You just kind of have to… know what you’re aiming at.”

She wasn’t explaining it very well, but then she wasn’t much of a theorist. Everything she’d learned, she’d taught herself – trying to teach others was always a challenge. Maybe that was why she focused so much on general videos showing off the fruits of her training and giving very basic explanations. Saiyans weren’t exactly renowned for their eloquence and ability to articulate themselves. They were a race of warriors born and bred for fighting, not for scholarly behaviour.

Nevertheless, she gave a firm nod to the Earthling, and took two careful paces backwards. Exhaling long and slow, she focused her energy, more to see if he could feel it more than anything else. There was no visual sign of the woman calling up her strength; but it suffused every inch of her body. Learning this kind of intense control, keeping her power tightly bound within the limits of her body and not allowing it to extend a hair’s breadth beyond her skin? That had been a major step on her journey towards the mastery she had obtained.

The wind blew across the ground between the two fighters. She’d put just enough distance between them that a swirl of dust could pick up, and unless he turned out to be much faster than she anticipated, she’d have a few moments to prepare herself before he was able to attack her. That, really, was the point. There was no better way to learn about a person than in the heat of battle. Through the language of fists and power, it was far more difficult to hide the truths at a person’s core than with words alone.

If his ability to sense energy was well-developed, he should be able to feel the strength now pulsing within the woman standing opposite him. Her bearing was calm, composed, with her hands resting easily at her sides, but her focus was entirely on him. She didn’t know what he was capable of, after all. He didn’t scan as too strong, but then, neither had she, prior to the event which had changed her life forever.

“Okay then.” She said, seriously. “Come at me with everything you’ve got. Before I can give you any tips, I need to know where you are right now. Who knows?” And at this, she flashed a dazzling smile, all teeth and easy mirth. “Maybe it’ll turn out you’re already so strong I can’t teach you anything at all.”

She privately doubted that was the case, of course, and the smile on her lips showed that she didn’t really think that was too likely; but it’d be foolish not to admit the possibility! Still. Hopefully she’d be able to give him at least a few pointers.

(Wordcount: 525/1575)
The Newcomer Elrick

Pepa was a lot stronger than Elrick, but strength alone wasn’t the be-all and end-all in the world of fighting. If it was, things would be a lot easier to predict – but how you used that strength was as important as how much strength there was to be used. As Elrick came bursting in towards her, she was impressed by the strategy he was using.

If she wasn’t able to sense power levels, she might have assumed that he was just throwing a rock at her, rather than following up on it with a powerful punch to follow. As it was, she could see his strategy, but that didn’t make it a bad one. Against an opponent of a similar power level, that would be a tricky technique to overcome.

Her foot hooked underneath the boulder, and sent it spiralling into the air, the woman twisting to duck underneath his punch as it came in at her. She was still smiling, though, and whilst her eyes glittered with amusement, there wasn’t a hint of condescension in her. She’s been Elrick, in the past, and she was not nearly so smart about her approach to trying to overcome a more powerful opponent.

“Nice.”

And sudden, she blurred, no longer in front of him but behind him. She cracked her knuckles as she regarded him – she wasn’t ready to hit back yet. The last thing she wanted to do was to accidentally seriously injure him. But, she was ready to receive his next assault.

“You’ve got a good brain in your head.” She continued, “I wouldn’t rely too much on rocks, though. Past a certain point, hiding doesn’t really work. I can sense exactly where you are, even without this.”

She tapped the scouter on the side of her head.

“So, if you’re going to try and take me by surprise, you need to try and hit me from a lot of directions at the same time. Can you throw ki blasts yet?”

It was an earnest question. She could see that he knew how to use ki – that had been written all over his blazing aura – but using it for that kind of purpose and focusing it enough to use it as a direct weapon was a step that not every fighter took. When it came to trying to overwhelm your opponent’s defences, though, there was no tool greater – in her opinion. Just being able to strike from a range longer than your own arms and legs was a step up that transformed martial arts combat inexorably.

If he had the same talent for using his ki as he did for his tactical thinking with that move, he could be a real threat!

(Wordcount: 464/2044)

The Newcomer Elrick

Pepa watched with interest as the Earthling charged his attack. She hadn’t actually meant that he should start throwing these things around at her; that could get dangerous quickly, but… okay! It’d prove the point at least, she supposed.

When he unleashed the ball of burning purple power, she flexed her fingers at her side, and then clenched her fist tightly. Where before there had been no visible aura, her strength suddenly flared around and out of her, a burning white blaze of force which became a tangible shield. The attacks against her front and back splashed into the aura, battering against the energy barrier she had created, but not breaking it.

She let it linger for a few moments as she turned around to face the panting warrior again, and she smiled easily.

“Yeah, man. Looks like you’ve got some good moves. You just need to work on your endurance a bit. Basically, once you’ve reached this point? It is all just a matter of refinement. The more you work at it, the better you’ll get, until you start to figure out more elaborate things. Like. The ki you release from your body? That’s still part of you.”

That might sound abstract and pointless, so she raised her hand towards him, and flexed her fingers again.

In an instant, a beachball-sized orb of power was burning in her palm. A swirling mass of brilliant green, she chucked it in his direction, and the sphere scorched a path between her and him at incredible speeds.

Except, before it impacted, she twisted her hand upwards, and the energy ball shot spiralling into the sky.

A few moments later, the rock that she had sent hurtling up there made itself known again; a growing shadow threatening to eclipse her… until a second slash of her wrist, and the green sphere impacted the tumbling boulder with incredible force, detonating the rock and sending light dust pattering down across the pair of fighters.

“That’s actually a pretty basic technique, believe it or not.” She said, never once having taken her eyes off her erstwhile opponent. “What you’ve got to figure is what you want your approach to fighting to be. Some people want to outlast. Some want to outthink. Me? I go for overwhelming force. But there ain’t nothin’ wrong with favouring a different technique. At the end of the day, there’s no one best fighting style. You’ve just gotta have the courage to carve your own path, you know?”

(Wordcount: 427/2473)

The Newcomer Elrick

“Well, yeah.” Pepa said, with a smirk, at his compliment. “I’m Super Saiyan Pepa you know? I’m not some scrub!”

There are a lot of different thoughts as to how one should coach a fellow fighter. Some warriors held themselves back and went for a more equal fight where they could help their less experienced colleagues learn the ropes and see the incremental advancement they were making as they matched their tutors.

Other warriors didn’t engage in direct fighting at all, relying on deep meditation practices or training exercises in which neither fighter clashed with the other until it was time to put every theoretical lesson to the practical test.

Pepa… did not do that.

The way she figured it, the people who she trained with directly had probably studied all her training videos to the point where talking and practicing wasn’t useful any more. That meant it was time to fight for real by the time they came face to face with her. The way she saw it, holding herself back against an opponent would only be a disservice to them. How were they going to learn anything if they didn’t see what it would really be like?

That didn’t mean she thought it was necessary to transform and go all out against every person she crossed fists with, but it did mean that when Elrick came at her with the fruits of their lessons, she didn’t just stand there and let the attacks happen, like some – arguably more charitable – teachers would have done. Instead, she demonstrated another practical technique.

The way she moved it was almost like a dance. She twisted around the incoming energy blasts, letting them come within a hair’s breadth of impacting her, only to plough into the ground and send up blasts of dirt and smoke which obscured her from the incoming physical assault.

When he was on her, the instinctual movement didn’t slow in the least. She moved in tandem with him, matching him footstep for footstep, always remaining infuriatingly close and yet just that little bit out of reach.

“When you’ve seen enough real combat.” She said, “You can start to get a sense of how people are going to move.” Her voice remained calm and composed, even as she wove in amongst his punches and kicks. “There’s only so many ways that punches and kicks can be thrown, you know? And everyone has a style. Give it some time and you’ll figure out the patterns. Now, next question, can you take a punch?”

It was fair warning in her book. She’d let him show her his offensive techniques, and he was definitely getting better, even as they just practiced in the same sparring match. He was taking the lessons to heart and she was pleased with that – it was always nice to see someone listen to what she had to say.

If he was listening closely enough, the fact that the Saiyan’s fist suddenly came shooting up in a lightning-fast uppercut really shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, aiming to crash into his chin in amongst his offensive to break the flow of attacks and force him backwards. She didn’t want to kill him! But it was important she hit him hard enough for him to feel it, otherwise he might not know if there was another area in his style he really needed to work on!

(Wordcount: 582/3055)
The Newcomer Elrick