Chapter Two

The Lookout. Krillin felt almost honoured that could have a close look at the place much less step foot on it. Kami stood in front of them, looking much as he always did, like an older Piccolo, something that was mildly disconcerting to see especially since Krillin had died by a green hand before.

"You," the man started, leaning heavily on his wooden staff. "Are the strongest fighters that earth has. Unfortunately, though, this is not strong enough. During the next year I hope that the training Mr Popo and I," at this the man gestured at the black genie that stood beside him, looking at Krillin and the others with a creepy smile. "Will give you a fighting chance in the coming battle."

"The training will be quite," Kami went on. "Will cater to your strengths. Krillin has excellent manipulation of energy, Chiaotzu and his extraordinary psychic abilities, and Tien and Yamcha with the prowess towards close combat. We will try to make you faster, stronger and increase your Ki reserves. The first step is something I'm sure Krillin is familiar with."

Kami pointed his finger in front of them; there was a beam of golden light and when it disappeared a pile of clothes had been deposited in front of them.

"Those are to be your attire for the duration of your training," he said. "The only time you take them off will be when you sleep. Is that understood?"

There were nods from the others.

"Mr Popo," said Kami. "Takeover."

The man smiled further. "Of course Kami," the genie said. "Now, all of you. Strip and put on the weighted clothes."

Thoughts of privacy and the like were put aside as the pulled on the clothes. Kami had been right, Krillin, when he had still trained with Master Roshi, but the man had at least showed some restraint in the strain he was putting his trainee's body under. The same could not be said for Kami. From the undershirt, the boots and the armbands, all of it was weighted. Krillin was forced to use his Ki just to be able to move.

The same, he noticed, could be said for the others. Yamcha was having the most trouble, the man's Ki was pushed much further than Krillin's own, but then again Chiaotzu was cheating as he had engulfed himself with telekinesis force.

"You'll beginning by showing me the skill you have," said Mr Popo. "An all-out fight. Krillin and Tien, and Yamcha you will fight Chiaotzu. Make this quick, go all out. I want to see your technique and your stamina. Krillin, Tien. Go."

Krillin swallowed and looked Tien over. The man was taller, with bulging muscles that would surely make him slower. Krillin tried to remember the fight at the tournament, his strengths, not that they would matter. Five years had passed and the man, much like Goku, had been training religiously in that time. He would be stronger, therefore Krillin would need to be crafty.

They walked until they found a clear space, optimal for fighting. They stare at each other before they got into their respective stances. All-out, Krillin remembered. He pushed out all his Ki, he bulked up a little and he was filled with an immense amount of energy. Tien did the same, the humanoid figure that shone in his mind's eye shining brighter.

Tien had definitely gotten stronger, but, the man thought, he would not let this intimidate him.

Krillin rushed forward and shot a punch. Tien had anticipated this, a step back and the man spun, directing a kick at Krillin's midsection. Krillin quickly dodged, flipping back and increasing the space between them. Tien lunged and drove his fist at Krillin but the fist passed through the man.

"Crap," Tien muttered as Krillin suddenly appeared behind him readying a kick. He missed by the barest of inches as Tien stepped back, his hands crackling with energy.

It happened fast, Tien shot a beam of energy and Krillin knew he wouldn't be able to dodge. He pushed his sky around himself forming a thin shield. The beam hit and pushed him back, sapping him of a fraction of his reserves, not to mention that the energy was enough to hurt him.

Krillin lunged, breaking into a flurry of punches directed at the three-eyed man. Tien dodged most, blocking a few. A moment passed, time in which Krillin saw the ineffectiveness of his action. He pushed himself back but Tien capitalised in that small moment, he went on the attack; not fast enough to dodge Krillin block, pushing the pain of every hit back and feeling an ounce of anger because with each hit he felt his reserves plummet.

A scream from Krillin and burst of Ki was sent out, enough to push Tien back. Krillin took the open, spinning and landing a kick to the face. Tien soared back, flashed brighter to come to a sudden stop.

The man was far enough that it gave Krillin a breather.

Five minutes in and he was already tired. Another weakness that would need to be weeded out.

Krillin settled on the ground. No use expending Ki for keeping himself aloft. No, he corrected, this was training. He needed to use his Ki reserves so that they grew.

He noticed the minute motions from Tien. The man was about to lunge. Krillin tensed, trying to figure out a strategy. Tien lunged, pushing off with Ki. Krillin made to dodge but the man abruptly turned left, leaving only an after image. Krillin looked up just in time to see the man come elbow first towards him. His arms came up and the shoulder hit with enough force that his feet dug into the ground.

Tien disappeared and appeared almost instantly in front of Krillin, leg extended and ready for a kick. It all happened to fast, but Krillin had enough sense to try and gather his Ki into a shield. The leg slammed into his and shot him back. He tried to stop himself but Tien was already above, the foot drove into his stomach pushing all the air out of him. He slammed into the ground, foot still on him.

Tien jumped off and Krillin found he couldn't move.

He had a lot of work to do, his last thought before he fell unconscious.

"That was embarrassing," Krillin muttered. He'd been healed by Kami after the fight between Yamcha and Chiaotzu, the former of who had won, and now the warriors were sitting in front of table that was filled with enough food that even Goku would have the smallest of trouble.

"You were actually good," said Tien. "You're certainly stronger than you were in the tournament."

"Yeah, but not strong enough," said Krillin. "I couldn't even last five minutes."

"None of us did," said Yamcha. "It's these damned weighted clothes," he said pulling against his armbands. "Annoying."

"But useful," said Krillin. "I remember when Goku first took them off. Our speed doubled."

"Something that's not going to be the same, I feel," said Tien. "Mr Popo doesn't strike me as a person who would let this become easier. He'll increase the weights when we start moving with ease."

Yamcha groaned. "We're the world not at stake, I'd ditch this before my body starts to really ache."

"Sad that it is," said Chiaotzu. "What do we know about these saiyans?" Chiaotzu. "Weakness that we can exploit."

"There's the tail thing," said Yamcha with food in his mouth. He was quiet for a moment, chewing and the swallowing. "When Goku still had his tail the moment you held on to it, all his strength left him."

"Yeah," said Krillin. "Which could get real annoying when our enemy was powerful," he muttered.

"So there's that," said Tien. "During the fight, we misdirect, trying to get a hold of their tails." There were nods. "Which means we have to really work on our speed."

"Which means more of these weights," Yamcha groaned.

"What else?" asked Chiaotzu. "Aiming to exploit one weakness is like putting all our eggs in one baskets. We have roughly a year on our hands. Time to work on exploiting those weaknesses. What else can we use?"

"They can't sense energy," said Krillin after a moment's thought. "Goku's brother had this scouter that he used to sense energy for him."

"Okay," said Yamcha. "We also try to take those out."

"And use misdirection," Krillin added. "Solar Flare. After-image."

"And the Multiform technique," said Tien. "I'll have to work at it though. It has the major drawback of spreading out my Ki in equal parts. If I could stop that, then I could use them like clones."

"Hour up," Mr Popo's voice came into the room. "Your training begins now."

Krillin wove through the air, dodging the flurry of punches that Yamcha was sending his way. The man disappeared and Krillin guessed where he would appeared. He whirled around a ball of energy already forming. He sent it forward just as Yamcha appeared, the ball caught him in the stomach and sent the man flying further away.

Krillin's hand closed in a fist and the ball detonated. He didn't let out a breath of relief. He'd missed. Yamcha zipped through the air, circling around to catch Krillin from behind; again Krillin whirled around, prepared to send another ball of energy.

"Damn," he muttered. He started closing his eyes but light was faster. A fierce blinding light hit him, his eyes burning. He tried to concentrate on Yamcha's power but his entire focus was on the pain radiating from his eyes.

A punch plunged into his stomach, pusing all the air from his lungs, a kick landed at his ribs and he was sent flying. He gathered enough presence of mind to stop himself.

He tried opening his eyes but all he could see was a blurry figure in the distance, an immense blue light forming over his hand.

The Spirit Ball. Krillin centred himself, legs apart and hand cupped at his side. Not much charge put into the attack he said, "Kamehameha!"

A burst of blood energy shot from his hands as he extended them, moving swiftly between him and Yamcha. The man jumped into the sky, abandoning the spirit ball. Krillin pulled the, trying to direct the attack up but to no avail. He still couldn't control it effectively, even after three months' non-stop training.

Damn, he thought. Not enough improvement.

Yamcha was close. Krillin dodged back and sent a kick. It missed, ploughing through an after-image. A scream and a shield formed around him. It shattered from the hit, but it slowed enough that Krillin was able to catch the arm; a twist once, twice and Yamcha thrown clear across the Lookout and slammed through the entrance of the building.

A momentary respite. Krillin concentrated, cordoning off a portion of his Ki. He pushed it back and a second Krillin split itself from the original.

"Turtle wave," Krillin said and the clone nodded, taking a step next to the original. They waited and the. "Crap again." They both dodged as the ball of blue light flew towards them, flying in opposite directions.

The ball swerved through the air, following the original. Krillin flew away, trying to get away from the energy ball that was steadily getting closer. His clone, he noticed was at something of a loss, watching as the original was chased by the ball.

How did the ball work? he asked himself as he was forced to change direction. Did it follow him of its own volition or was it being controlled. Krillin hadn't heard any speak of a heatseeking energy beam being developed—which was a good idea now that he thought about it—which meant Yamcha had to be in control.

The question then turned. How did he do that? The answer was easy. Krillin plunged down and quickly lowered his energy. The ball changed direction, head straight for his clone—the clone cupped its hands at its side and a blue ball formed. It send it out towards the ball, but it was stronger, the beam was forced back and the ball slammed into the clone. Denoting.

The clone dropped to the ground.

When they merged, Krillin knew he would be under an intense amount of pain. But he pushed this aside. Yamcha. He would be gathering energy. Krillin focused and felt through the walls. He found the man.

Krillin let out another clone, gestured for it to go to the other side of the building as distraction. Krillin gathered his energy and prepared another Turtle Wave, the last he would be able to achieve if he wanted to do any flashy moves.

He put more Ki than was needed and shot the beam. Yamcha dodged only to be caught by the clone in the stomach, a two-handed fist to the back and Yamcha was on the ground.

Krillin let out a long tired breath, starting to feel the strain from the morning workout. Mr Popo appeared from the house.

"Breakfast's ready," he said.

"Thanks," Krillin said. "Be there in a few minutes." Yamcha was getting up at this point. Krillin's second clone flew towards him and entered his body, not much pain but it was still there. He walked over to the second and he almost screamed, the injuries didn't transfer, but the brain still believed that it had been hurt form the clone's experience. A few moments passed were he was in a paralysed state, his arms aching and burns radiating from his everywhere.

A few breaths and he was able to push the pain back.

He was certainly a lot more powerful than before. But it still wasn't enough. He needed to be stronger.