Part 3
A/N: Wow guys, I am ahead of schedule so far! I wouldn't expect this pace for the whole story, as college is going to get in the way, but here's part 3!
Chapter 7 (cont.)
When I woke up on the day of my "graduation," I stretched out, and sat up, ready to begin my preparations. I headed over to the bathroom attached to my room, showered, and got dressed in my "combat casual" attire. My usual outfit consisted of a loose-fit gray t-shirt, and some well-fit pants that weren't quite form-fitting, but were tight enough that they wouldn't interfere with my movements. I looked in the mirror, and smiled, admiring the frame I had built up over the past years. I grew quite a bit, going from 5'6", just taller than Vegeta, to 6'2", and had packed on some muscle, though not getting to the point where I was bulky, by any definition. I messed up my short brown hair, keeping it looking messy, just because I enjoyed the aesthetic. Next came my weapons; 5 throwing knives in a bandolier across my chest, and my Zanpakuto, named "Thunderclap", in its sealed state: a wakizashi and tanto, the Japanese style short sword and dagger. These I strapped to the outside of my thighs, ready should I encounter anything my martial arts and normal weapons would not suffice to subdue. I looked in the mirror, smirking a little. "Not bad, if I do say so myself. Alright, time to go see what Omni's got set up for my last day of training." I sauntered over to my door, remembering the first day I showed up, a scared kid, just wanting to find his parents. While I still did want to find my parents, I had bought in to what all of these heroes and Omni told me: that I needed to save the multiverse and lead them into an era without darkness. I opened my door, but when I went to close it behind me, I was overcome by a sense of finality. This had been my home for the last three years, and when I showed that I was ready today, I would be leaving to begin my quest. Trying to get rid of my melancholy mood, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, remembering what Durzo told me the day he took me on as his apprentice, a year into my overall training. "Kid, the world is a fucked up place. If you hesitate or show weakness, you'll die faster than you can say 'I wasn't ready'. But if you can move past your fear of the unknown, you might just survive, and help us win this thing." I opened my eyes, turned to the door to the courtyard/training field I knew so well, and stepped through, eager to see what challenges awaited me.
Chapter 8
When I stepped out, I was immediately greeted by a completely different sight. Gone were the prismatic walls and circular courtyard, replaced instead by a huge stadium, with a set of stands already packed with people, the heroes I had come to know over the course of my training, the people I had trained with, laughed with, and befriended. There were over 300 people there, and when I came out a cheer went up, raucous applause and chants of "Raidwynn!" rippling across the crowd. I put my hands up, embarrassed about all the attention. Suddenly Omni appeared out of thin air next to me. He put his arm around my shoulder, and gestured to my dormitory hallway. It vanished from behind us, and left us standing in the middle of an open area about the size of a football field from back on Earth. I gaped at the spectacle set up, but didn't get time to think before Omni teleported us to the middle of the field. He whispered to me, "Ready?" and I nodded. He threw his arms out wide, and spoke in a booming voice, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Heroes and Heroines, three years ago I brought you a child, and proclaimed him to be my champion! Some of you may have doubted him, but he has trained, and grown, and now he is ready to be tested!" A cheer went up, and he gestured for the crowd to quiet down. "Who better, then, to test him, than some of his teachers for the past three years? Get down here, Vegeta and Ichigo!" The crowd parted in the center, and at the top of the stands, there they were. My first mentor, the prince of all saiyans, in his battle armor for the first time, standing with his arms folded, and next to him my swordplay teacher and the one who awakened my powers as a Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki. His tall, slender frame draped in black and white, topped with spiky orange hair contrasted with Vegeta's shorter stature, and he stood proud, his head held high and his sword strapped to his back. The two of them, rather than walk down the steps, jumped off the top of the stands, and floated to the field to stand in front of us. "I hope the lessons I gave you haven't worn off," Vegeta nearly growled, then reached out and shook my hand firmly. I looked up at Ichigo, and he smiled a little. "This is my first time being on the giving end of a training 'final exam', so let's do our best, yeah?" I held my hand up, and he high-fived me energetically. Omni stepped between us and the assembled audience, keeping up his oration. "For this final exam, YOU will be the judges of young Raidwynn's performance! There will be two sections, one based upon martial arts, given by our resident Saiyan royalty, and the second on swordplay, proctored by a veritable prodigy of the craft, Ichigo Kurosaki!" I could pick out some of my friends smiling, Sora, Riku and Gohan sitting together discussing something, and over near the end Cloud, Hiei, Jotaro, and Tifa were standing around, Hiei and Jotaro looking a little miffed, probably because they wanted to test me themselves. "These sections will be timed, and points will be given in three categories: Offense, Defense, and Technique. As the examiners, Vegeta and Ichigo will be able to give their opinions, and then we will tally the points given by you, the audience!" Omni smiled, like this was some kind of game show, not me fighting to prove my mettle and ability to save the freakin' multiverse! He turned back to us, and said, "Alright boys, ten minutes to a section, good luck, and begin when you're ready." The three of us nodded, with Ichigo heading back over by the foot of the stands to watch me face Vegeta. He and I stared each other down, then stood back to back. We each took five steps, then turned, bowed, and dropped into our "ready" stances. Like we had done hundreds of time before, the two of us counted down in sync "3..2..1" then launched ourselves forward.
Chapter 9
I flew forward at incredible speed, and clashed with Vegeta in the center of the field, our forearms locked together sending a shockwave through my body and the arena floor. Then we began to trade blows, throwing flurries of punches, kicks, feints and elbows, each reacted to at the last second, fists meeting palms, feet hitting shins, feints barely reacted to or ignored, and when a blow did slip through, it met tensed muscle, ready to receive and slough off the hit. For more than a minute we continued this slugfest, neither of us giving an inch. Finally, I noticed an opening. When Vegeta threw a kick with his right, his guard dropped infinitesimally, leaving his right ribs open to attack. Countering would be risky, due to the possibility of taking a kick to the head, but if I nailed it, I could turn the match in my favor. I slipped into a more defensive posture, waiting for my opportunity. Vegeta must have sensed something was off, though, as he jumped backwards, watched me cautiously, then threw a qi blast at the dirt, creating a small explosion. I could still sense his energy, but his exact movements were hidden by the dust. I stood my ground, still waiting. I sensed something to my right, and threw myself backward, almost landing on my butt. In the next instant, the prince's gloved fist was where my skull used to be. I felt the aura and the wind coming off of it, and the increase in speed could only mean one thing: Vegeta had ascended to Super Saiyan. Sure enough, when the dust cleared, there it was, the signature rippling aura and golden hair of a Saiyan who has broken his limits. Vegeta smirked, "Ready for the next level, boy?" I taunted, "Well at least you're taking this a little more seriously now, Vegeta!" We started to circle, each getting a feel for the other's range, as we traded more punches. This time we mixed in energy blasts, which were either dodged, knocked aside, or blown away with one of our own. I again noticed the same flaw in his defense, but just couldn't quite find the opening I needed. Finally, my time came. Vegeta flew in, throwing a high roundhouse kick with his right leg. I held my left arm to guard, and threw my right fist with all my strength at his ribs. Vegeta's arms parted, just enough for me to slip past, and I hit him as hard as I could, directly where I had spotted the weak point before. I knocked Vegeta to the ground, landing on his back. Nearly instantaneously, he was back up, throwing blasts at my head, but he was obviously slightly winded. As I noticed this, he charged in and took advantage of my overconfidence to slip through my guard and land an uppercut on my chin. I took the blow, feeling like I got a cinderblock to the face, and flew backwards. I flipped in the air to land on my feet, but at this point we were both breathing hard, starting to feel the fatigue of fighting this hard. I knew Vegeta had just barely warmed up, due to Super Saiyan 2 existed, as well as his access to God qi, but I felt satisfied I had pushed him this hard in Super Saiyan. I began to channel qi into my hands, and dropped in to the famous pose. I shouted with all my strength as I gathered energy, "Kaaaaameeee," Vegeta threw his head back and laughed, then began to gather his qi, creating a rapidly-expanding yellow glow in his hands as he held them out in front of his chest. "Final,". I looked down and saw the familiar blue glow of the Kamehameha wave forming in between my hands, and then turned back to Vegeta, continuing my chant. "Haaaaameeeeee". A golden beam exploded from his hands as he screamed to the high heavens, "FLASH!" I responded by throwing my hands forward and responded in kind, putting all of my remaining energy into this one attack. "HAAAAAAA!" The two beams of light crashed together between us like nothing I had ever felt before. Even as extensive as our training had been, the two of us had never done anything like this before. Energy crackled out from where the attacks met, and sent sparks flying all around the arena. The ground beneath my feet cracked, and behind me I could feel it give and my feet sink in as I was pushed back by the sheer force of Vegeta's attack. My body was starting to fail me, and I was losing the battle, my beam now barely a blue aura surrounding me as Vegeta's Final Flash won out over my Kamehameha. I pushed for one more burst, thinking come on, come on, not yet! I found a reserve deep within me I didn't even know I had, and with this final spurt of energy I threw my hands up, sending both of our beams careening upwards, until they exploded like a bomb, far above the stadium. I was completely drained, my reserves depleted, and as Vegeta approached me, I could hardly lift my hands to form a boxer's guard. He approached me and raised a hand, and I tensed for the coming finishing blow, ready to accept my failure and the disappointment of those assembled. To my surprise, instead of attacking, Vegeta grabbed me by the hands, and stared me in the eyes. "No one has ever redirected the Final Flash like that. Kakarot has overpowered it, but that was the first time it has gone anywhere except where I aim it. That was incredible!" He hooked his arm around me supporting me as I felt ready to collapse, and then turned us toward the stands. He raised my arm and yelled, "He's ready!" There were resounding cheers, and even Omni was clapping happily. He teleported down to the field, and headed over to Ichigo, but the orange-haired man waved him away and headed towards me. "Well done Raidwynn, I've seen what I need to see, and I think you need to rest before you leave tonight." He smiled down at me, and I gave a weak thumbs-up and a smile. Vegeta and Ichigo supported me, and we headed towards the great hall, surrounded by my beaming friends. Sora ran up to me as we walked in and I sat down, exhausted from my bout. "That was awesome! He was all 'pow pow pow', and you were all 'pop pop pop', and then you landed a solid hit! I mean, he got it back, but wow! And that beam clash was like nothing I've ever seen! You won that one in my books!" He slapped me on the back and sat down across from me, as Vegeta and Ichigo had already claimed the seats next to me like overprotective parents. Riku was next, and he just placed a hand on my shoulder. "That was a great fight. You're ready." Over the course of the next hour, I saw all of my friends and teachers, who offered congratulations, or in Durzo's case, advice. "There were at LEAST thirteen openings for you kid, come on!" But even he slapped me on the back and declared me ready. Eventually, the celebration died down, and Omni had a declaration for all of us. "Today Raidwynn proved himself in combat with one of our finest warriors, and leaves tonight to begin his quest to save the multiverse! I say we send him off right!" There was a chorus of cheers, and everyone began to eat and drink until late in the evening.
Chapter 10
I was packing my bags in my room when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned to see Durzo standing behind me, looking grim, though that's pretty much his normal face. "Hey kid, you ready for this?" I let out a strained laugh "Well, to be honest I'm really not sure, but if you and everybody else believe in me, then I guess I must be up to the task." He placed a hand on my shoulder, and gazed at me intensely. "When you get out there, I want you to be ready for anything. Be careful who you trust. I personally don't even trust Omni. I know that you can handle yourself, but you seem to trust easily. I want you to stay safe. Here, I want you to have this, to keep you safe in the worst case scenario." He handed me a small vial and a black blindfold, and I took them with reverence, realizing what they were almost immediately. "This is white asp venom! You know that I'm not a killer, Durzo, why would you give me this?" "I just want you to be prepared. Otherwise, just take care of yourself, kid, it'd be a shame to lose you. Also, the blindfold is for some sensory training when you get the chance." With that he hugged me, slapped me on the back, and headed out. I stared, stunned, for a while, just digesting all of that information, then I walked out, ready to take on the multiverse. I reached the main hall, and only Omni and my teachers were there, and they all waved when they saw me. Omni headed towards me and handed me a scroll. "This is a dimensional portal scroll. When you open it, it will create a dimensional hole that takes you to a world that needs you at that moment, though you can also revisit any world you've already been to. With that, you can be off!" Everyone who had been teaching me walked up and patted me on the shoulder. Vegeta, Gohan, Jotaro, Durzo, Ichigo. They each gave me encouragement, then walked away. I opened the scroll, and a swirling blue portal about 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide. I rolled the scroll up and placed it in the knapsack I had slung over my shoulder, and stepped into the portal.
Part 3: Fin
A/N: Wow guys, I really didn't think I'd get these out this fast! Here's the end of the Training Arc! Next time, we get a glimpse at the true enemies of this fic! Part 4: A New World! The Darkness Awaits!?
Also, if it seems like I gave Raidwynn a lot of powers without explaining them, you're exactly right! I plan on revealing the abilities of his Zanpakuto, Stand (other than being a punching ghost), and more of his qi abilities eventually! Look forward to it!
