This fight had been going on for a ridiculous amount of time and neither of the pair had come close to actually reaching the Sacred Water Jar. It floated high in the sky, undisturbed by the battle going on below. The pair had tried several different plans to grab the jar but it looked like the only way this would end would be a hard brawl. Despite their coordinated attacks, the pairs weaknesses became extremely apparent very quickly. Kelvin's focus was easily distractable, Clarinet was too patient for his own good. The pair were easily seperated and picked apart by the tower trio. A powerful wave from Takashira had nearly incapacitated Kelvin.<br/><br/>Clarinet's attack had distracted Takashira long enough for Kelvin to retreat out of harm's way. His stomach was doing backflips and his vision was blurry. He should've been panicking, but something else was there instead. Korin let out a small chuckle before appearing before him, running a hand along one of his whiskers with smug grin.<br/><br/>"Letting your guard down already?" he chided before Kelvin's vision began to fail. He'd been enveloped with darkness. All had gone quiet except for Kelvin's own breathing.<br/><br/>"Guess your training was pretty useless, just like you," a voice echoed throughout the thick veil. It definitely wasn't the cat, it was much deeper, much crueler. An immense Frost Demon broke through the thick darkness with confident heavy steps. It smirked down at him with intense purple eyes that seemed to illuminate the darkness in front of them. Kelvin took a step back as the beast came into view. He looked up in horror at the beast. It looked back at him with a menacing smirk plastered on its face. The monster barely lifted its arm and Kelvin tumbled backward in fear. The air was filled with low grumbling laughter. It permeated his very being and made his blood run cold. He scrambled to his feet and turned to run but the monster was directly in front of him.<br/><br/>"I should've obliterated the pieces of you I shot into space," its voice boomed all around but the words held no venom. On the contrary, they were said with no more intent than a passing remark about the weather.<br/><br/>Kelvin couldn't respond, he just gasped for air and grunted as he fruitlessly tried to escape this hell. The veil of darkness became a deep red landscape, its surface cracked and covered with jagged outcrops. A stream of embers fled into the freezing expanse of space.<br/><br/>"Who knows," the frost demon's voice was low and calm but it pounded in Kelvin's ears "if you ask nicely, I just might give it another go," it spoke as if it were telling a child to ask nicely for his ice cream. Kelvin gritted his teeth and made to weakly strike out at the monster. The pathetic attack wouldn't have harmed anything even if it landed. The monster became a swirling mass of smoke on impact. Its low laughter echoing in his ears again as the smoke moved about with great speed and intent. The smoke split into several thick pillars all around Kelvin before forming into several Frost Demons. Their eyes leered with murderous intent but their expressions hinted at something akin to satisfaction. It was time to eliminate.<br/><br/>"Kelvin!" a familiar voice shouted. It was faint as if from far away "Kelvin! What are you doing!" he exclaimed. It sounded cleared now. His vision was starting to dim as if the world was a flaming ball being extinguished.<br/><br/>"GET UP!" Clarinet's voice rung clear in his ears this time. Light returned to the world. Clarinet was holding Takashira at bay while deftly avoiding Yajirobe's onslaught of attacks. The ease and grace with which he moved showed his improved focus and skill, but he wouldn't be able to keep it up forever. Kelvin made to charge into the battle but was quickly knocked several feet away. He barely identified the knobbed staff before he was sent flying. Korin visibly frowned as if he was disappointed.<br/><br/>"Y'know if this is too much for you, we can wait until they get here. Takashira can handle it for you," he taunted.<br/><br/>At that moment, he thought about the whole situation: a chewed eraser was knocking him around with air, an old cat was whapping him with a cane, and a fat man in a bathrobe had the upper hand. This was how he was training to protect the universe from those.... monsters. His body tensed as his body was enveloped by a pink glow. He could faintly make out an orange blob coming his way. The tiles buckled before cracking underneath him as his ki bubbled off of him. The air around his lava lamp glow began to ripple with excess heat. It was intense but Kelvin didn't care, somebody was gonna get to feel some pain. He was pissed. His stomach quieted and vision grew intensely sharp. Yajirobe's advancing footsteps could clearly be heard as he prepared to attack. Kelvin's gaze bore through him and he froze in his tracks. His battle cry seized in his throat and he stood immobile in mid attack. Kelvin let out a guttural roar. The tower rumbled with and the wind whipped up around him. As soon as he broke line-of-sight with Yajirobe, the samurai had already set himself on bolting. He didn't get the chance.<br/><br/>Kelvin flashed in front of him and struck him in the stomach with such force that the samurai flew out of view. Korin watched, mouth agape, as he delivered the blow with blinding speed. Before he had time to react, Kelvin was in front of him. Korin let out a yelp. The punch that was destined for him met a powerful barrier instead. Takashira stood between them, her eyes slanted shut with concentration. The strike was blocked but not stopped. A low, gravelly growl rumbled in Kelvin's throat as he pushed hard against the barrier. Takashira could feel her feet sliding back but still seemed unphased. She pressed a wave of intense gravity on Kelvin but his aura only seemed to react more violently, flashing a blinding white before dying back down into a harsh red. His steps continued forward and Takashira continued to slide back as she layered gravity on harder and harder. The heat was starting to burn Takashira's arm. Takashira conjured a wave of force and knocked Korin out of the way before Transmitting behind the strike. The force carved a divot into the tower floor.<br/><br/>Clarinet had been taking the time to charge an antenna beam. With a fierce crack, a lance of ki charged through the air right toward Takashira. It met with her shockwave with a deafening boom. The force smacked Takashira into the ground. She lay flat,  a spinning ball of pink energy coming right down to her. She moved just in time to watch Kelvin's foot smash through the tiles like cheap wood. She took the opportunity to send him flying with a shockwave, but she had accounted for him wrapping one of her legs with his tail. Her pant leg ignited before disintegrating as she was dragged along. Kelvin used the momentum to spin Takashira about and send her flying toward Clarinet. He clasped his  hands together and delivered a hard axe handle strike. Takashira's shockwave defended her from the hit but the force smashed her right back into the tiles.<br/><br/>The jar that had been floating high above the fighting group plummeted out of the sky. Clarinet deftly caught the jar in his outstretched arms "I guess we win?" he quietly remarked to himself, almost as if he hadn't expected he'd say it.<br/><br/>Kelvin was still boiling. He panted heavily as he scanned the battlefield. He roared with the ferocity of a triumphant animal "NOW WHERE'S THAT CAT BASTARD! I'M GONNA RIP HIS THROAT OUT AND USE HIS CORPSE AS A RUG!" he bellowed.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Uhh, Takashira..."</span>the cats voice echoed warily.<br/><br/>She groaned before sitting up in<span style="font-style: italic">"Yeah, I've got it,"</span>she dismissed him before sending a wave right at Kelvin with much more speed than she ever had before. The sound resonated deep in Kelvin's bones, his skin cooled and his expression softened. His body started to relax as he began to float back down toward the tower floor. His pulse returned to normal and his breathing had settled once he finally touched the tiles. He landed close by Clarinet who was giving him a stony but analysing look. He gave the jar a shake to show him that they'd managed to pull it off. Kelvin wanted to stay mad, but something about the victory, and possibly that blast, had put him in good spirits.<br/><br/>Korin appeared before the pair with a proud look on his face. The expression the pair held told him he wasn't off the hook. He cleared his throat "Well done. you two," he delivered in his flat nearly sarcastic tone "I know some of the strategies we used may have seemed unfair-" Kelvin nearly lunged at him but Clarinet held him by the back of his neck.<br/><br/>"BUT, I hope you understand how frustrating and dangerous the enemies ahead will be," he added quickly as he shuffled back a few steps "They odds will be much less even in your next battles but if you can actually force back Takashira, even in this state, you two are capable enough," he concluded. Kelvin took note of that.<span style="font-style: italic">"What did he mean 'even in this state'? Is she even stronger than this? That can't be possible!"</span>. He looked over at the jar Clarinet was balancing in his palm. He shook his head before looking back at Korin.<br/><br/>"The Sacred Water will-"<br/><br/>"It's just water isn't it," Clarinet interrupted him before he could begin another grand speech. Korin was a bit taken aback but he recovered quickly.<br/><br/>"Erm, yes but-..." Kelvin lunged again, grumbling obscenities under his breath as he struggled against Clarinet's vice-like grip. Clarinet was almost tempted to let him go but he thought against it.<br/><br/>"Alright, alright!" Korin shouted defensively "For your troubles, Takashira's restocked your Senzu pouches and you're good to go," he said with a shooing motion. Takashira appeared in front of the two. She had a few scuffs but was unscathed for the most part.<br/><br/>"That was actually pretty fun!" she chirped with earnest surprise "Maybe next time, we can go full force!" she aimed the comment at Korin. Korin gave her an uneasy look before grumbling "If you don't mind, I have a fat samurai to find," he turned and walked away from the pair.<br/>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br/><br/>Getting down from the tower was a much simpler process and took no time at all. The pair were exhausted but luckily they had a bit of downtime before they made it to Planet Namek. As soon as the pair made it back to the ship, they set a course for Namek. Kelvin had settled on rummaging through a few files on the large terminal where he'd first seen Telaurius's recording. Clarinet had gotten the room's lights in working order, filling the once gloomy darkness with a soft white glow.<br/><br/>"Hey Clarinet, Check this out!" his voice was filled with the sort of overconfidence that told you something was bound to go wrong. Kelvin played back an arbitrary log by Telaurius remarking the lack of progress. He reached up to touch the terminal monitor and scrubbed his hand across the screen, the image swirled and distorted around his hand. He let out a childish chuckle as moved his hand about, making Telaurius's head enlarge and shrink in a hall of mirrors-esque manner. He was so enthralled that he accidentally bumped the terminal and changed the image to the coordinate map. An image of Namek floating among the stars filled the screen. With it a moment of almost peaceful silence as Kelvin pulled away from the terminal and simply watched the planet move. He let himself float backward until he was in a lying position, his tail coiling about his waist as he watched.<br/><br/>"What's it like?" he thought aloud. He was partly curious and partly anxious. He pulled himself into a cross-legged position in the air and let his tail slip from his waist to tumble about. " I know I've asked questions before, but I can't help but feel like I'm stepping into the unknown," he turned to face the Namekian before continuing on in a low voice.<br/><br/>"You said something about having to fix everything with the Dragon Balls... did it work?" something in his gut told him it didn't.