Dragonball Ryoga

!SPECIAL EFFECTS! "THOUGHTS"

Chapter Two

"I'm in another universe, and I need to get back, but how?" Ryoga thought to himself as he hid out in the mountains nearby.

Then Ryoga took to the skies again when it became dark, flying around in a daze for hours until he made his way further into the foliage of a forest, touching down near a stream and leaning against a large tree where he fell asleep.

Sometime later he awoke to… "I thought I'd find you here."

"What the... Who are you?!" Ryoga exclaimed, waking up with a start.

"Shhh. Silence," an old man said, appearing right in front of him, putting his index finger to his mouth.

Ryoga regarded the old man with a sense of familiarity as he made every effort to be silent as possible including his own breathing.

"That's better. For your information, I'm Shin Fong Yu, a grandmaster of Fong Yu Tae Kwon Do. There's a saying about my fighting style. If you fight Fong Yu, it will fong you up. Heh, heh."

Ryoga looked at the ancient martial arts master incredulously. "I really don't have time for jokes, old man."

"Who's joking, Ryoga?"

"How..."

"As I said before, I'm a great martial arts master. As it is, you've become big and strong, being as large as an Andean condor. Thus you have impressive physical gifts that should not be wasted. So for these reasons, I'm taking the opportunity to train you in my martial arts," the old man said.

"It's been nice talking to you, Sensei, but I have to get out of here," Ryoga said as he got to his feet.

"I've been looking for a new student for my martial arts ever since my previous students died at the hands of the Red Ribbon Army. Even the mercenary, Blue Yamazaki showed up and viciously slaughtered the ones who had survived the previous encounter."

Shin paused for a moment. Then he continued. "As it is, I can tell by looking at you that you're nearly invulnerable. That will be most useful in the training I'll be putting you through," the ancient, old man explained, continuing as if Ryoga had not interrupted him.

"Martial arts training? I already know how to fight pretty well. Even though I vanished and reappeared in an instant, I was in another dimension for a period of time where I fought in gladiatorial contests."

"Yes, I can sense all that, but you're still wet behind the ears, Ryoga. This is not the other dimensional world from whence you've come. In addition to that, your ability to use your feet and your martial arts skills leave a lot to be desired, but I can change all that. However, for the time being, I know where you can be hidden from Doctor Gero and his goons while you train and become more skilled and acquire enough finesse to stand up to your enemies. This way," the old man motioned with his hands.

Ryoga paused for a moment. "All right. I'm not exactly sure where to go at this point. The sooner I can figure out what to do about all this the better."

"Yes," Shin said as he led Ryoga to safety. "I would suggest that you totally master the martial arts in which I'm training you."

"What are you talking about? I'm strong now."

"In a way, yes. I can teach you to fight more effectively so you'll learn how to fight with more skills and finesse instead of just charging your way through with just strength, power, and speed."

"Oh. I do feel more powerful than I was before, but I still need to find a way back to my original universe," Ryoga answered.

Then Shin turned towards him. "There's no way back. You are stuck here. However, since you're still more resilient and have more ki stores than you had from before you left for that other dimension, I can rush the training without having to worry about harming you too much," Shin explained as they kept on walking.

"Where are we going?" Ryoga asked.

"We are going to a place close to where time will go at a different pace. It's out of the way and hidden from view. At that point, I will start training you."

"All right, Sensei. We'll play it your way for now."

XXX

A few minutes later Ryoga and Shin arrived at Shin's place which was several stories on top of a mountain. The front of the house looked like any other medium sized house, but the backyard was a whole lot larger than it should have been in reference to the size of the front. There was a clearing in the center of the yard green with grass while the corners were surrounded by exotic plants and trees Ryoga had never seen before.

"Well. We can start your training right now," Shin explained as he turned around. "I want you to copy my movements, doing the best you can for now."

Ryoga was impressed with the fluid movements of the Korean martial arts master as he did his best to keep up. "How are you floating in the air like that?"

"How did you fly over a dozen stories high when you went falling out of the Red Ribbon building when you used more than your wings?" Shin replied, seemingly standing on a solid surface a few feet off the ground as he executed tai chi that seemed to have more "kick" maneuvers than the avian warrior had ever seen before in either tai chi or karate katas.

"I don't know exactly. How are you doing it?" Ryoga asked as he did his best to mimic the ancient martial arts master smooth, precise movements.

"That is a good question. While I'm a master several Korean martial arts, most notably tae kwon do; I'm actually more than that. Ki can be used to do many other things that you don't know about. However, for the nonce, copy my movements."

Ryoga continued to copy Shin's movements, feeling his ki flow through him while he went through his paces. While Ryoga trained a mist appeared, putting him in a kind of trance as he floated in the air executing the martial arts maneuvers Shin was teaching him.

XXX

At the end of the training period, Ryoga had totally mastered the Korean martial arts Shin had taught him.

"It's like I've been training for ten years," Ryoga exclaimed.

"It hasn't been ten years; it has been only one year. I put you through a time warp of sorts. Due to your inhuman durability and other gifts you have, you were able to endure ten years of martial arts training in a little less than a year."

"Really?"

"Yes. Now you have a much better chance to survive the likes of the Red Ribbon Army. I've taught you everything I could. I'll be visiting you later to see how you're doing." With that, the aged martial arts master vanished into thin air!

Ryoga stood there staring at the space Shin had occupied a moment ago. "Have I been dreaming all this time?"

Ryoga then walked out of the house and into the mountainous area. After walking for a few minutes, he turned back and noticed the house he had occupied was no longer there.

"I must have been dreaming. Wait, no! It was all real. I can feel not only a more agile body but a stronger ki as well. But where do I go from here?" Ryoga leaped into the air and took off for the skies, feeling more naturally adept at flying.

XXX

Upon getting off the bus a few hundred miles from where he touched down, he ran into someone he had never seen before.

"Hold it right there!" Ryoga turned to see a large, obese, round figured man who was unusually pink running towards Ryoga. As soon as he got to him, he stopped right in front of him.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I don't believe my luck. You gave me quite the runaround, Feather boy! Now I've finally caught up with you!" the big man announced as the aroma of his breath assaulted Ryoga's nostrils, causing the muscular warrior to shake his head.

The larger-than-life's warrior's large bulk moved with a fast gate that belied his size. He was almost pink skinned with hair resembling protruding red spikes on his head. His Roman-like chainmail strained against his protruding blubber much like the shoulder pads, dark blue pants, and boots he wore. He had a rather brash and vulgar demeanor to him that affected his aura. Despite his obvious girth and rounded physique, he had a great deal of bloated muscle under all his blubber.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the handsome, young warrior replied. "Exactly who are you supposed to be?"

"You don't know? My name is Dodoria, the greatest bounty hunter on the planet, the universe even. Right now there's a huge bounty on your head from the Red Ribbon Army and I mean to collect."

At that point, Ryoga looked the man over with raised eyebrows. "That's very interesting. It's been nice talking to you, but I have places to go and people to see."

"You're not going anywhere!" Dodoria stammered as he stomped on the ground some more, his rotund girth jiggling as the ground threatened to collapse under his weight.

"What is it? Are you looking for a fight?"

"I'm looking to bring you to Doctor Gero and collect the money. But if I have to beat you into the ground first, so be it."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, that's so!"

"Well, let me tell you something. I'm way stronger than I appear to be. But since you're so insistent on fighting me, let's do it!"

In a flash, Ryoga spun around, quick changing out of his shirt, allowing his previously held in wings to spread out for all the world to see.

"So you do have a pair of wings! No matter. Despite my bulk, I can move at an uncanny speed. So you won't be able to escape me by flying away."

"I won't be flying away since I want to see the fruits of my training and what I'm made of. So bring it on, Pinky!"

"Why you… That it! That's it! I'm going to take you apart, slicing you into little pieces then put you back together and do it all over again," Dodoria countered, stomping the ground in a rage before making slicing motions with his hands.

While Ryoga simply stared at the rotund martial artist in disbelief, Dodoria stopped what he was doing and regarded him.

"You're going to get your tail feathers kicked. Come on!" the rotund man shouted, getting in a martial arts stance where he deftly stood on one leg in the crane stance.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Be here next time when Ryoga finds out the fatter they are, the harder they hit.