This chapter has been edited.
Chapter 10
Jepu
When Jepu finally made it back to the village, he'd been hoping to keep the village on an even lower profile thanks to his discovery of the ship. A lot of dangerous elements were mixing on Namek that he knew there was little chance of beating. The absolute last thing he wanted to hear was that Shinpa had moved on his own again.
Jepu burst into Shinpa's hut to find the young Elder sitting at his white round table with his face resting in his palms.
"Took you long enough," the younger Namekian said when he saw him.
Jepu frowned. "Shinpa, what is the meaning of this? Why do I see strangers making a ruckus in the middle of the village?"
His frown darkened further. "What did you do?"
Shinpa hopped off the short white chair he was sitting on and put his arms behind his back.
"Jepu let's face it we are going to die," he said flatly.
"We don't have a Dragon Ball," Jepu said. "There's still a chance. Info says they're going after Dragon Balls."
Shinpa sighed. "By inviting those strangers I did three things, Captain."
The last word was loaded with exasperation and just a little sarcasm.
"First of all I confirmed that the enemy is indeed the Frieza Force, feared throughout North Galaxy and headed by Lord Frieza. Until now it was just a rumor. Second, said Lord Frieza is capable of destroying this planet on a whim with a finger."
Jepu stared. Surely that was a joke.
"Tell me Jepu, if you knew of a planet with Dragon Balls that could grant any wish- this naturally includes a wish for your death of course or a wish to gain a means by which to kill you- would you let such a planet exist after you used the Dragon Balls?," Shinpa continued.
"Thirdly, the Saiyans have a markedly greater fighting potential than we Namekians do due to the ability to get stronger in the midst of battle. Those people I have invited are mainly Saiyans. In a nutshell, they embody our best chance at fighting back short of fusing you and Nail in the far north. Because you can be sure Nail isn't going to give up his duty to Elder Guru just for our tiny village or any other village for that matter."
Shinpa leveled a cold gaze on Jepu. "What I'm saying to you Captain… is that you don't know everything. It is your job to be paranoid- it is not your job to tell me what to do."
Jepu nodded. "You're right. But with them here we are going to be found plain and simple. We will be found and all opposition destroyed. You've endangered us all. I can't fight them alone."
"We're already endangered," Shinpa said. "Also you have help now, and I daresay they'll be far more powerful than you are soon enough. You'd best assist with their training."
Jepu maintained his composure as he always had. He was not one to whine, he was a man of fact plain and simple.
"I dislike placing all my eggs in one basket, Shinpa. If they sink we're going down with them."
"That's irrelevant. It's the only basket," Shinpa replied with a dismissive wave of one hand. "They will begin when the first sun reappears- that is tomorrow."
"And security?" Jepu said. "How do you propose we hide their usage of ki from the enemy especially as they get stronger?"
"True elevated ki levels will alert the enemy to our activities however, I noticed from the dark skinned one outside that he relied on some sort of technology to sense ki," Shinpa said, taking a look outside one of his windows facing the centre of the village. "Upon asking him I found that his outfit is standard equipment, therefore I assume they all rely on such technology. But I wonder, can it sense ki within ki…?"
Jepu followed Shinpa's gaze to see the group in question being directed toward a hut that had been vacated specifically for them. The dark skinned one was quietly listening, the short girl was also listening with a distant expression, the silver haired boy was paying rapt attention. The other, taller, brown skinned girl was looking at the bronze skinned boy with the curly black hair. The boy in question didn't even look like he was listening to what the guards were saying. Slowly he turned and stared back at Jepu and Shinpa. He blinked once, snorted and turned back to the guards.
"Your idea sounds good enough," Jepu admitted. "Things are desperate right now and I suppose this is the best I could hope for."
"Indeed," Shinpa said with a smirk on his face. He was still looking outside.
It was so obvious he was impressed with his choice of warriors. Jepu had to admit, noticing their gaze from outside the hut when they hadn't originally been paying attention to him was pretty impressive of the curly haired boy. The fact that he was so aware was something to watch out for… he was the type that was hard to read.
"I'll leave and resume my duties then," Jepu said, turning away.
"Wait."
Jepu paused on his way out.
"I understand the worry you feel, Jepu," Shinpa said honestly. "After all my father was much the same as me. I'm sorry about my tone just now… it's been difficult."
Jepu smiled an honest smile. "It's exactly why you need someone who questions you that's just as stubborn as you. It's why you have me- and unlike your father I'm not going to fail you."
Even without looking back Jepu could tell… Shinpa was smiling.
Naya
The daylight was bright, two suns illuminated the sky, each one at opposite ends of the horizon. The white buildings still shone in the light, the warmth from the suns settling over all things like a blanket in tandem with the caressing of the wind.
This was apparently Namek at night- the third sun was supposedly on the other side of the planet at the moment. This was what Namek considered evening and all the villagers had gathered at the centre of the village to eat a big meal together rather than everyone cooking their separate meals.
Naya loved this aspect of the Namekian life style, being together with people you knew and grew up with… that inter dependence they seemed to have. She had seen one Namekian child earlier in the day misbehave while his guardian was asleep and another Namekian reprimanded him. His parent was informed afterward. Here every child was everyone's child. Every job was everyone's job. You would never feel lonely here.
There was a big pot in the exact centre of the circle of villagers that three Namekians were stirring. Surrounding them various members of the village were making what looked like salad. Blue salad… Naya shivered in disgust and stopped thinking about supper. Instead she found herself drifting back to what had been bothering her for a while now.
Kin and Hiyori were on her left, Riku was on her right and beyond him sat Seph. Hiyori was quiet and Kin looked uncomfortable. Riku was listening to something Seph was saying with a disinterested look on his face.
I nearly got him killed.
There it was plain and simple. The thought had leaped unbidden into her head but she was not one to deny things she knew to be true. Defensiveness was for weaklings who couldn't admit to their own flaws, she knew she had made a fatal mistake. She knew she ought to apologise but then what…? Sorry I nearly got you killed? That's it? A life was nearly lost and the best you can do is an apology. Apologies don't fix anything. They were just words dammit. Naya was at a loss…
How can I fix this…? I made a huge mistake.
She spent several minutes thinking about this as time wore on. Eventually she came to a decision.
Start with the apology. It's common courtesy at the very least.
She turned to her right. "Riku…?"
He immediately turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow. "Sup."
"I'd like to say a few things to you," she said. "I mean privately."
He looked at her for a few seconds more. She could practically see the recognition in his eyes, the slight movement that said he really didn't want to hear it. But he humoured her.
"Sure."
He told Seph to hold on for a few seconds, cracked a joke about getting laid which Seph actually looked like he believed and then followed her to the back of one of the huts.
Once they were out of sight Naya bowed. Riku was so surprised he began to speak but she cut him off.
"What-"
"I'm sorry for what I did on Veridia. I just didn't want to leave you behind. I felt like you could take him if only you used your real strength… fight the way you really know how to fight… but it was wrong," she said. "There's a very good reason you're trying not to do that anymore and I pushed you anyway. I'm sorry."
There was a sigh. "You're very annoying you know that. Sometimes you're more annoying than I am… yeesh…"
He grabbed her head and yanked her upright, then let go and leaned against the hut as Naya rubbed her scalp.
"First of all, why are you bowing to me? It feels friggin' weird. Second of all, ordinarily I would be pissed but I'm not. Don't ask me why, I don't know," Riku said.
He sighed, seemingly unsure what to say next.
"I mean you weren't wrong," he said. "Thanks for the apology I guess…"
That couldn't be it…? Surely there was more…
"You could still have adjusted and beat him," Naya said. "But the chance of you actually winning was slim. I heard about your injuries from Kin. I failed to recognize that. It's what you've always been saying…"
"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should," he finished for her.
"Yeah…"
"I only really thought about it while we were here doing nothing," she said. "It made me feel very stupid."
"You weren't wrong," Riku pointed out.
"It wasn't the best course of action either," she sighed. "'Not all victories have to be immediate', that's also you."
He smirked. "Did you come just to tell me how wise I am?"
She snorted. "Don't make me smack you…"
Naya looked back past the building at the flickering embers of the campfire. Namekians had a way of creating a homely atmosphere in open space that she envied.
"Why didn't you fight him though?" she said, turning back to look at the taller Saiyan. "I mean the way you really know how."
Riku sighed. "Technically, you already answered that question. Because not all victories need to be immediate. I thought I could stay with him and get away or plan around him. There were still the two guys who were supposed to be looking for us to steal from after all."
"Except that's the long way…"
He nodded. "It's the long way."
Silence fell between them.
"I was winning you know, before everything became a mess," Riku said eventually.
Naya fiddled absently with her mutilated arm guards. They were all still stuck in their battle damaged clothes except for Kin and Hiyori who had fresh pairs in their ship.
"But somewhere in there, I started thinking about why I was fighting. After that I just couldn't do it," Riku said. "We were the ones who started all of it. The fight… just…"
Words failed him.
It was interesting how you could ask him to form an articulate argument about anything but his feelings and he could oblige you with ease but when it was about himself…
"It didn't' feel right," Naya ventured.
"Close but no," Riku replied. "It was kind of like… Outmuscling a toddler, overpowering a disabled person, outsmarting a retard… it just didn't have…"
He sighed and gave up.
"I won't say I get the whole thing," Naya said eventually. "But it didn't feel like a fight at all did it?"
"It didn't."
She had seen how he smiled back when he was training with Seph to recover what he had lost. When Seph would put on the pressure in a push for victory and make Riku rise to the challenge. Of course that no longer happened, he had surpassed his friend rather quickly despite the difference in power level. Of course she also saw how he reacted every time she did similar things. He enjoyed himself.
She had a very vague idea of what he meant. It wasn't quite compassion. It wasn't quite the lack of challenge either, although both did hold some sway. She understood how it was difficult for him to put into words even if she wasn't quite sure what was wrong herself.
"You didn't used to care about things like that," Naya commented. "You destroyed anyone who got in your way."
"Yeah well, I can't be like that anymore," he said. "Even though a lot of the time I would love to be."
He looked pensive after saying that.
She wanted to ask if it was because of her, but she knew he would respond poorly. That was entering realms that he would never discuss.
"We've been here too long," Riku said. "We should get back."
Naya nodded, slowly. "Yeah…"
Hiyori
Fight.
Hiyori sat with a bowl of an unidentified substance in front of her with a complete lack of interest.
Her hands closed around a soft neck, slowly crushing it.
An impression as vivid as if it was something she had actually done. Something she was actually doing.
The life was fading out of the one in her grasp…
This had been going on for a very long time. She absently fingered the spot where the pendant lay against her chest beneath her black gi. It was warming up.
She had always struggled with this. It made her limit her speech, limit her actions. Sometimes it made her irrational, a lot more emotional than she would otherwise be. She feared that she would slip someday. Maybe she was already slipping. Had already slipped.
It was not a comforting thought.
Meditation had done little to curb the problem.
Kin didn't seem to be struggling at all. To say anything would be to distract him from Frieza. That was a sacrifice they could not afford to make. Not to mention, she'd been enough of a burden to begin with.
The boy in question was casting glances her way from time to time.
Kin was obviously worried but Hiyori said nothing and simply kept eating.
Riku and Naya came back to the circle and got their food served to them. Naya was very quiet and Kin was oblivious as usual. Seph did notice she wasn't talking and asked Riku what happened. "I boned her too good" was the response and Seph laughed.
"Oh wow I didn't think you guys were actually you know…"
Riku gave a sort of smirk. It was hard to tell what he thought of that comment. What was obvious to Hiyori was that Seph was clearly way off the mark and Riku was aware of it and- Unsurprisingly considering he had done the same thing when when Hiyori was looking for Naya with him on Veridia- he couldn't be bothered to correct him. Naya also said nothing to correct his thinking, her mind was clearly elsewhere at the moment.
She felt her power swelling…
Her heart gave an extra loud thump and Hiyori's chest heaved so hard she coughed up what she'd eaten.
"Hiyori!"
Kin grabbed her by the shoulders to steady her. "Hiyori what's wrong?"
Pull him apart by the arms!
She shook her head and said, "I want to sleep."
Kin still looked worried, his effeminate face was so cute Hiyori wanted to laugh at him. His black eyes were so wide with concern it was honestly quite touching.
This one is weak.
An extra loud thump and Hiyori had to strain to maintain control as a wave of ki pulsed through her system.
"I'm fine Kin, "she reassured him. "I think I'll turn in early."
As she said this Hiyori noticed Riku watching her out of the corner of his eye. He didn't say anything or give any sort of reaction but he was watching. Hiyori got the feeling he was very much aware she was not fine.
Kin nodded once and said, "I'll take you."
As they both stood up to leave one of the Namekians, dressed in a purple outfit and a white robe spoke up.
"I'm curious as to why you keep leaving the meal," he said slowly. "My Saiyan friends."
Hiyori knew that it was pretty suspicious, no real surprise there. But the guard had some seriously horrible timing… looking at his face Hiyori knew that he intentionally picked now to ask because it would be difficult to lie. Hiyori had no idea how to respond.
"She's just not feeling well I think," Kin replied. "I'm taking her to rest."
"Yes but the other two left before that-"
"Ho ho, so you're looking to see if we we're up to something kinky is that it?"
That was Riku speaking with a look of fake surprise.
It wasn't even directed at Hiyori and she found it immensely irritating. If trolls had a defined expression it would be this one…
"Wow, were you curious? Wanna know how it works? I can tell you. You just take this-"
"When did I ever say anything of the sort? I was just trying to find out what they were doing is all," the guard retorted.
"Now, now don't be shy," Riku said with the most condescending look on his face. "I do realize there's a lack of the female form here and its functions interest you-"
The guard shot to his feet. "No it doesn't. We Namekians don't even work that way. We split into two newer beings when we grow old-"
A look of understanding crossed Riku's face. "I see, so you pollinate yourselves…"
"HOW DID YOU EVEN GET THAT FROM WHAT I SAID?!"
"Calm down, Mr. Guard-"
"It's Jepu, Captain of the guard to you!"
"Ok Jepu Captain of the Guard-"
"Why are you saying the whole damn thing? Oi you're pissing me off."
"Ok, Jeppupu's fine then?"
"Stop making my name sound so dirty…"
This time Riku shot to his feet. "Oi don't look down on dirt you shitty guard! It's the dirt you stand on and the dirt that feeds you, you moron!"
The two butted heads near the centre of the circle.
'I'm not talking about standard dirt, maggot! I'm saying you make my name sound like a turd!"
"Not just any turd! An alien turd you idiot! Get it right you shitty guard!"
"You're the one that needs to get my name right!"
Everyone watching the spectacle burst into laughter, the previous tension quickly forgotten.
Naya waved at Kin and Hiyori to leave mouthing, Riku's got it under control.
Her lips were fixed in an undeniable smile, her eyes seeming to soften at her fellow soldiers antics. Kin gave a grateful nod and assisted Hiyori in standing up. Seph on the other hand looked like he wanted to stop the fight.
Even though it's not even a fight… Hiyori thought as Kin helped her to the hut they'd been assigned. Sometimes I get the impression Seph is in a world of his own…
Inside the hut furniture had been shifted to make room for five floor mats. Hiyori took the upper left corner and Kin was right next to her. Seph was next to Kin and finally Riku and Naya's mats were next to each other and closer to the entrance. All of them were purple.
Kin laid her down on her own mat and stared at her for few seconds. She could still hear Riku and the guard arguing from the hut and honestly it was getting very silly. She couldn't resist a smile of her own as she heard the exchange.
"….also you're the alien here!"
"The hell is that supposed to mean?! To the alien you're the alien Jeppupu!"
"Alright then to the alien of the alien you're the alien!"
"And to the alien of the alien of the alien you're a turd!"
"You finally said it! You finally admitted that you're calling me a turd!"
"An alien turd! Get it right you moron!"
"Somehow I feel like this argument has come right back to square one…"
Kin smiled too. "That Riku can be pretty crazy huh?"
Hiyori didn't say anything and just closed her eyes in preparation to sleep.
"You know if that time still bothers you… you can tell me about it," Kin said. "I'm still doing my best Hiyori. I haven't given up… we can still get Frieza. It's going to stop, once and for all."
Hiyori still didn't say anything. Kin bowed his head and placed it next to hers. As sleep slowly began to drift over her, Hiyori remained silent.
That's exactly the problem…
Kin nodded awkwardly at her silence and then said, "Ok well… I'm going out now. Talk to you tomorrow."
That's why I have to stay strong.
And again, as always, Hiyori said nothing in response.
Riku
The next day, or at least I presume it was the next day because the sky was still shining brightly with sunlight, I got up, joined the Namekians for breakfast with everyone else and then met up with Shinpa some distance away from the village. We'd been given a packed lunch as well to be eaten later in the day, needless to say we were expected to be here a while.
I looked at the area with mild interest. It was a flat expanse of grass surrounded on all sides by huge rocks that enclosed the massive space. I liked the fact that it was so wide open, I generally hated enclosed areas. We had also been outfitted with new clothing seeing as our old clothes were pretty much history at this point.
I was wearing the purple namek clothing similar to the captain of the guard but without the robes. Kin called it a dogi or gi for short. It was pretty cool honestly, a lot less restrictive as compared to my uniform and lighter for another thing. Sleeveless, spacious, light… I could really get moving in this outfit. I'd asked if I could get a new colour for it, black or red to be more specific. Possibly both. The Namekians in charge of clothing said they would get on it but I could tell they were just humouring me. There were more important things to do after all…
It honestly wasn't bad. I used a red cloth kind of thing to wrap the waist like a kind of belt. For shoes I had on the Namek canvas shoes they all wore, brown and drab. But it was light and the entire outfit let me breathe and move with an ease I hadn't had in a long time. We all had on the same purple gi but we'd all chosen different colour belts. Naya had blue, Kin had white, Hiyori wore green and Seph wore black. It didn't exactly help him stand out but I wasn't going to complain.
Shinpa was here along with Jepu. He turned to us as we were setting down our bags and said, "This is where you can train safely. Jepu will erect a dome here underneath which you will train."
"So the enemy can't find us… nice," Seph said.
I rolled my eyes. No shit…
I tugged on the leg of my dogi, completely fascinated with how light the fabric was. I started to pull it in various ways just to see what it felt like.
"And what about you Elder Shinpa? " Naya asked as she stepped forward rolling one arm in preparation for the day's activities.
"We want you to get as strong as possible therefore I will use my ki to heal you as you train," Shinpa said as Jepu walked off to one side of the area with their own bags. "In this way, where you would have to leave time for recovery before you train again you can simply leap right into the next regime. You'll be able to get at least three to five days training in one day with this method."
"I estimate we'll be just a bit below Frieza's power level in a month or two," I said. "We'd best do as much as we can. We never know when Frieza will get sick of this Planet. Let's get right to it."
On that cue Jepu raised his hand above his head and then spread them wide. As he did so a dome of ki formed above us and spread over the open area- our training area- until it touched the rock walls at the edges. He then sat in a meditative position in one of the corners to maintain his concentration while Shinpa walked to his side.
"You may begin," he said.
I briefly wondered whether the Force actually wouldn't find us but then pushed that to the back of my mind. We would see for ourselves if they would or not.
I started my warm ups- a series of hops, some stretches, claps and some running in place. I immediately leapt right into the body training. I started with one handed push-ups, then moved to pistol squats, crunches, reverse crunches and finished with planks. As I finished this I realized there was a problem… I had no way to build my biceps. I looked around the training area carefully, already sweating by this time. I had no idea how long I had been exercising but considering I had done more than a few reps it must have been a while.
Kin was doing hop-squats, Hiyori was doing triangular push ups and Naya was already practicing her forms. Seph was doing planks in a corner on his own.
I moved to one of the rocks on the edge of the training area and examined it for a bit. I then used a single finger to carve a large indent into the rock wall leaving a single bar of rock across the top of the opening.
Perfect…
I proceeded to do chin ups, hop-squats on my toes and then pull ups. Once I finished my last pull up I swung off the bar, satisfied with my training so far. I noticed the others already coming to the same road block I had come to. They saw the bar I had carved and decided to carve bars of their own. While they finished with that I moved on to my forms.
I knew many martial arts despite the fact that I favoured kicking. Remembering and using them all was difficult and honestly more stress than I needed, rather I had blended them and their principles- not into a single art cause they would never really be one- but into my movements. Even if my mind did not remember the body did. The trick was the stimulation.
I began to visualize my enemies. Six. Surrounded.
I lashed out, a left side kick, turn, knife hand block, back wrist strike and palm strike to the chest. Turn, rotate the enemy off course, punch his centre and kick him back. Lean forward and and unleash a back kick on the one behind you.
I visualized eight this time and leaped into action. As the situation called for it the various skills that had been hammered into me leaped to the fore. Kicks, punches, elbows, palm strikes, dual strikes, elaborate footwork, combinations of multiple arts and their multiple principles into single techniques. In just a few minutes I had moved through my standard repertoire of strikes. Very basic but basics were life. It was the basics the advanced skills were built on. If you did the basics the advanced were a simple matter.
I noticed Shinpa watching intently. Jepu too seemed to have a mild respect for my skills although when he saw that I was looking he closed his eyes as if focusing on his dome. Not to say that he wasn't but he clearly didn't need to close his eyes to maintain the dome.
I snorted and focused on my training. After an indefinite amount of time everyone gathered in a circle. It was time for the next step: Sparring.
"So how are we going to do this?" Kin asked, looking round at all of us.
Naya, Hiyori and I were already stretching while Seph just rolled his shoulders. I finished and stood up.
"Well I had a few suggestions about that," I said. "What we all need is to see what we each can do. The entire point of sparring is to hone each other's skills. If we all just battled at once that wouldn't be very helpful so it has to be one on one obviously."
Seph nodded in agreement. "That's true but how do we decide who goes against who?"
At this point Hiyori finally spoke. "Isn't Riku the strongest one here?" she pointed out.
"I wouldn't say that," I said, waving a hand dismissively.
"Don't write yourself off," Naya said with a grin. "You helped teach me."
Kin looked surprised. "Oh wow really?"
Seph too. "I didn't know that."
"Oi stop putting me on a pedestal or something," I said. "You're all capable of sparring with each other just fine."
"I'm guessing I wouldn't be wrong in saying you're the most experienced fighter in this group," Naya added. "What do you think Kin? Hiyori? Seph?"
"Hey I'm pretty experienced too," Seph pointed out.
"I said most experienced, pay attention."
I winced. "Ouch."
"Well now that we've come to it and we have to come to together to beat Frieza…" Kin said slowly. "Yeah I think I have to admit you guys are stronger than I am and you know a lot more than I do when it comes to fighting as far as I can tell. I mean all three of you soldiers."
That statement was a big leap of faith for Kin. How could it not? He'd basically just told potential enemies that he was weaker than them. I had to admit he was brave and honest. Admirable traits to be fair- not always a good combination- but admirable all the same. I respected him a bit more then. Maybe I'd give him a bit less grief from now on.
"At ease General," I said stepping forward. "Fine. You'll all spar me one at a time and we'll see how that goes. If it's really helpful we'll stick with that. Better yet we can rotate."
"True rotation is a really good idea, " Naya said. "But there's no way we can share the area. Somebody is going to get in the way of someone else's match. Especially a mobility based fighter like you Riku."
I sighed. "Ah well, first things first. Let's get a feel for your techniques. Who's first?"
"Me," Seph volunteered.
I nodded as everyone stepped aside to make room for him. Seph raised his fists as everyone moved off to the edges of the arena.
I waited for him to move, feeling the usual rush in my system but I calmed myself.
This is Seph not an enemy out to crush you. Easy now…
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Seph wasn't coming forward at all.
"Could you just move or something? Like do something. Attack. Anything."
I raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
Seph gave me a nervous smile. "Just it's hard to attack you when you're watching me like that."
I was confused. Like what…?
I sighed and decided to humour him. I flew forward with a snap kick. He blocked it and tried to press forward with a jab-hook combination but I stepped back easily and kicked his thigh then snapped up to his face with the same leg. He blocked the second strike and tried to keep up the pressure using momentum. I simply went with the flow moving around him so he couldn't pin me down and launching various kicks on occasion. It got so monotonous I wondered if we were even fighting. It was so boring…
I dodged a hook easily and said, "Oi Seph are you even trying?"
"Yeah I am," he replied, breathing hard.
Hmmm… oh yeah my power level!
I caught one of his swings and shoved him back with the same hand. "Hold on Seph I'm going to suppress my ki till I'm on your level."
"Ok."
He took the chance to catch his breath while I suppressed my power. I focused on the ki flow within my body. It was pretty amazing compared to what it was on the ship. The flow of my ki throughout my system was much stronger than it was before, like the difference between a small stream and a large river. The pressure of my ki flow, its sheer power was much greater. If I said I wasn't pleased I would be lying. I followed the flow to its source, a well of power lying within and then supressed it. The amount of ki flowing though my body lessened as I did this until I stopped.
I opened my eyes and compared my power level to what I could sense of Seph's.
I nodded. "We're about even now. C'mon."
Seph charged me this time to get me off guard but I sidestepped him and pumped two kicks into his midsection for his troubles. And so we fought… it was pretty unremarkable. Seph relied solely on punches and his defence was respectable- at least for his upper half. I stopped using my hands at a point simply because my kicks and my footwork were enough to allow me to do damage without ever having to get within his reach. After a few minutes he finally fell over and said, "I give up."
I was disappointed but I let it go. When I had first shown up on the Force my skills had deteriorated and Seph had been the one to spar with me. He had been a challenge then but now it was like he had stagnated… he had made no effort to improve beyond what he already had and now I'd left him far behind. I was far more skilled than he was and even with a strength gap he lost to me often. I was aware that he could do far more if he really tried but that was the problem. He didn't try. Then and now… nothing had changed.
"Ok who's next?" I asked.
"Me," Naya said.
I shook my head. "Heck no. You're the closest in power to me. If I dealt with you now I wouldn't have any energy left for Kin and Hiyori. You come last."
She sighed. "Awww… and here I was looking forward to caving your chest in."
I gave her an expressionless look. "And just when did you turn into a homicidal maniac?"
"I second that interest," Jepu said from the edge of the training area.
"Shut up space turd!"
"Oi! You've completely abandoned all pretence now!"
Kin laughed at that as he walked up to face me. He settled into a basic even stance and waited for me to take one. As he stood before me I was quite impressed, Kin looked like he knew his stuff. He had one arm raised with the hand hanging loose from the wrist, the other was tucked at his side and his feet were evenly spaced. Solid grounding, little mass facing the opponent and hands at the ready. A good stance.
I closed my eyes and focused on the flow of ki within me. Where before I was looking to decrease the power this time I eased my hold on it and allowed the amount of ki flowing through my body to increase. I let it build till I was satisfied and then said, "Ok Kin. We're about even. Come at me."
He lunged forward with a barrage of blows. I immediately found myself hard pressed to fight back, there was no doubt: Kin was impressive. His blows were sharp and precise, his movements well controlled. Even when I countered him, he was able to easily control the flow of the fight and manoeuvre himself into a more advantageous position. He backed me up across the field, easily keeping up the pressure where Seph had failed. I found three problems though.
I blocked a punch and countered with a punch of my own in the same instant. It wasn't powerful, all it did was jerk his head a bit but the shot got Kin blinking. That was all I needed. I took the offensive and blitzed Kin with a series of strikes deliberately chosen for free flow into another strike. Kin staggered back under the offensive trying to regain his composure but I refused to let him gather focus. He tried a wild kick out of desperation that I leaped up and blocked with one knee, then extended the same leg into an aerial side kick to the shoulder that knocked him off balance. He immediately resorted to flight to stay in the moment and leaped upward with a blast prepared in both hands.
I raised a hand. "That's enough Kin."
He blinked in surprise. "Huh?"
"There's a dome we have to think about," Naya said pointedly with her arms folded.
Kin looked behind him and remembered that the dome was there and laughed nervously. "Oh right. True that. I guess huge blasts are out of the question."
I nodded as he floated back down to the ground. "Exactly."
"Anyway ," I added, moving on. "You're pretty good Kin but you do have some problems. The first is fixation, you focused on fighting me to the exclusion of all else. That's bad because you have to be aware of everything going on around you at all times both in and out of combat. This leads to your second problem, you were trying to overwhelm me with speed and strength that- frankly speaking- you don't have."
Kin raised an eyebrow in confusion. "But our strengths are the same."
My goodness he's so inexperienced…
"No our power levels are the same," I corrected him, raising one finger. "Our strengths on the other hand, are not the same."
"I'm confused," Kin confessed.
I sighed and tried my best to explain. I beckoned him over and drew the left and bottom sides of a square in the dirt. This would be my graph.
Kin got closer and examined my work with some curiosity.
"It would be best if you joined him Hiyori," I added. "Seeing as you're next anyway."
Hiyori came over to look at the drawing in the dirt. Once they were settled I proceeded to explain myself.
"Ok Kin," I said. "The x axis of this graph I've drawn here is physical prowess ok? This refers to speed and strength, basically anything to do with the body. And the y axis is mental prowess, that is mental fortitude, concentration and the like. Do you follow?"
"Uh huh."
"Let's call the point that they meet the origin. Here physical prowess and mental prowess are both zero."
"Yeah."
I then drew a line concave to the origin (a line that curves toward the origin). I made sure it didn't touch either axis but remained within the graph.
"This line I've just drawn is Power Level 1. Clear?"
"Yessir!"
"Ok so on Power Level 1 every warrior has different combinations of mental and physical prowess as you can see here."
I pointed at the extreme end of the curve on the y axis. "Clearly a warrior that is at this point of the Power Level 1 curve has focused solely on his mental prowess. His power level is 1. He is warrior M."
I gestured toward the opposite end which was on the x axis. "This here is warrior P. Clearly a warrior at this point has focused only on his physical prowess. His power level is also 1."
"Would you say Warrior M would be a match for warrior P in up-close combat?" I asked.
Kin thought about it carefully. "Well… no. He only built up his mental capabilities."
"Good," I said. "What about warrior P? If he had to rely on advanced ki techniques do you think he would be a match for warrior M?"
"No."
"Why is that Kin?"
"Well Warrior P only built his body and not his mind. That means his focus and his ki control are going to be non-existent."
I nodded. "Good. Now each of these warriors is an extreme case scenario. In reality, on Power Level 1 each warrior falls at some point on the curve between warrior M and warrior P. They rely on various combinations of both mental and physical prowess in combat. In a nutshell having the same power level doesn't mean we have the same degree of prowess, prowess in this case referring to both skill and power. It is the various combinations of physical and mental prowess each warrior possesses and how well they use them that determine the outcome of the battle."
"I see…"
I drew another curve above Power Level 1 and labelled it Power Level 2.
"Ok Kin, what's new about this curve?"
"Well for one thing, it's higher up on the graph. It's above Power Level 1."
"Good it's higher up in the graph. That means any point on the Power Level 2 curve is going to be higher than the same point on the Power Level 1 curve. That means any warrior on the Power Level 2 curve is going to be stronger than a warrior on the Power Level 1 curve that uses the same combination because both his physical and mental prowess will be higher than that of someone on the Power Level 1 curve."
"Ah I get it! So any warrior who's physically and mentally stronger than you is on a higher power level than you!"
I shook my head. "Close but no, it's the other way round. Anyone on a higher power level than you that possesses the same combination of physical and mental prowess will be stronger than you. A power level is just that: A level of power on which you operate.
Having the same power level as someone doesn't make you equals because you both have different training, different philosophies, different skills and different bodies. A massive man mountain with the same power level as a small fry is still vastly stronger in terms of muscle. If the small fry tried to compete with him he'd burn up a lot of his power much quicker. Physically, you're my inferior Kin even at the same power level."
He rubbed his chin in thought. "I get it now. Trying to beat you with speed and strength that I don't have… it makes sense now. If I were on this curve I would be closer to Warrior M than you are right?"
"Got it in one," I confirmed. "You and Hiyori both are closer to warrior M than I am. How you will use that to gain an advantage over me is up to you."
Kin nodded. "Yeah trying to outfight you was a bad idea."
"One thing to note though," I warned. "Look at Warrior M from Power Level 2 and compare with the Warrior P from Power Level 1. In an up-close fight would you say warrior M would dominate?"
Kin thought carefully and said," Well no, because his Physical skills are still zero even if he's on a higher level of power. Being on a higher Power level means he's much stronger than before, increased speed, durability and such but it doesn't really increase his skills at all, so as long as Warrior P can keep the fight close and personal Warrior M is going to have a lot of trouble- worst case scenario he could lose."
"Good you understand the concept now," I said. "Just remember that if the power level gap is wide enough that isn't going to mean much. The weaker guy will get stomped."
Kin grinned. "Being honest I never thought of it like this."
"Hence why you were losing…" I said drily.
He smiled sheepishly at that.
"The third and final problem I noticed was concentration," I said, standing up and scuffing out the drawing. "Once I interrupted your rhythm your focus was shot and you had trouble recovering your composure."
Kin stood up and gave a bow. "I'll keep that in mind Teacher."
Oi, he's giving me strange titles now…
"I'm trying so hard not to say I told you so," Naya said from the corner.
I gave her an expressionless look. You just did though…
She grinned insufferably at me.
I sighed in response and just said," Ok Hiyori it's your turn."
She nodded, bowed and said," Yes Teacher."
I frowned. This better not catch on…
Hiyori took a very different stance from Kin. Most of her weight was focused on her back foot and both arms were raised in front of her with the backs of her hands aimed at me. Typical shoulder width foot placement remained. It was a rather odd stance so I decided I would experiment. I lowered my power level just a bit so we were equals and then began the fight.
I stepped forward with a probing cut kick. Hiyori spun around it and her hands lashed out toward my face at freakish speed! I jerked back in surprise and felt the sting of her attack against my cheek. She didn't let up and let her hands fly. They were just blurs in the air that I could barely follow. I stepped back under the assault unable to find any openings to turn things around.
Holy crap! How do you beat something like this?
I skipped to the side and let off a roundhouse followed by a spinning hook. Hiyori ducked underneath both and spun right back into my guard and let loose with the flying hands.
She's bloody quick too!
As I strained for a chance to fight back I started to analyse her style more closely. It gave her several free hits because I was distracted but I didn't mind. I only moved just enough to make sure each blow wasn't fatal or heavily damaging. I noticed Hiyori's hands were open palms, or sometimes finger strikes. I also noticed that the reason for her freakish speed and power was the utilization of rotation in each step she took. It built up a force that she would ordinarily not be able to produce on her own strength. And with that I knew how to fight back.
Hiyori stepped forward again but I placed my foot right in between her own feet and collided solidly with her body to cut her rotation short. To her credit she tried to keep the generated force by resorting to elbows but a good quick shove had her stumbling. I stepped forward and delivered a sidekick only for Hiyori to catch the kick on the side of one arm and circle it violently off course so I stumbled. In that instant she was back again.
So persistent! How annoying…
I dodged the next few blows and then blocked some that came too close. Waiting… watching… and then I saw my chance. As Hiyori took another circular step I took one that moved in direct opposition to her and we both struck together. Hiyori blinked in faint surprise that I had used the exact same movement in opposition to her own. I struck again. A quick snap kick to the thigh brought her to one knee where I fired off a quick punch and stopped just in front of her nose.
"I win," I stated simply.
I helped her to her feet as Seph clapped for her from the sidelines.
"Nice going Hiyori," he said. "You actually hit him a few times. That's pretty good."
I kept my face blank. Even though the only one who has any trouble hitting me is you….
I brought myself to the present and simply said, "True Hiyori you're very good. In fact you only had one problem as far as I could tell."
Hiyori looked at me silently and I proceeded to elaborate.
"Your movements are quick but they're easy to read," I explained. "You're using rotation to give extra speed and power to your strikes, but you're only moving in circles. The problem with that is that circles are a simple shape to follow and to predict you all I have to do is counter clockwise movement with anti-clockwise movement and vice versa."
Hiyori nodded. "So what do I do?"
"I suggest moving in more complex shapes," I said. "Your movements will still be circular and allow for rotation if for example you weave figure eights into your standard circular movements. Harder to read and you're able to keep your rotation."
"I'll try that," she said. "One thing I noticed… you have experience with such movements."
"I do," I said simply.
She waited for me to explain further but when I added nothing more she simply moved away to rest her muscles. At this point Naya, walked in front of me and also took her own stance. She stretched her arms and shook out her body.
"You look like you've been looking forward to your turn," I noted, allowing my power to rise.
She turned so only the left side of her body was facing me, spread her legs wide apart, tucked one fist close to her chest and stretched her other fist out at about shoulder level. I noticed that her weight distribution wasn't even. I estimated about sixty percent of her weight to be on her back foot. Her expression was so serious I was honestly quite surprised.
I also finally decided to use a stance for the first time since we began sparring. I turned the left side of my body toward her and raised my right fist close to my chest.
"I suppose even if it's me expecting a proper stance out of you is a bit much," Naya said with a dry smile.
"Who knows? A stance is just the base from which you utilise your techniques," I replied. "I'm only picking the parts I need."
Her face turned serious again. "I'm coming."
I was half tempted to crack a dirty joke when she leapt at me. As expected of Naya her brutality was terrifying. As I dodged and weaved, blocked and sidestepped I could hear the whoosh of air rushing by with every kick and with every punch. I skipped backward as she came after me with a series of kicks that ended with a hook kick. I leaned back and let it flash by, then stepped on the knee of her standing leg. She fell to that knee but swiped with her other leg and I jumped up into the air to avoid it.
She came after me again letting loose kick after kick, each one flying by with its own shockwave. I flitted around her to avoid them all. She turned with a roundhouse, then a spinning backfist. I ducked the first and blocked the second, lifting one leg for a counter when she suddenly shoved me as hard as she could from the shoulder using her entire body. I shot backwards at blistering speed.
A body check! I'm going to hit the dome!
I let my ki burst to life around me then angled myself properly and swerved back into the fight with inches to spare. Naya met me head on flying kick to flying kick. The twin impacts nullified our momentum and in an instant we were exchanging kicks at ever increasing speed. Our legs crashed against each other on the last hit and I spun and aimed a back kick at her chest. She blocked it but got shoved back quite some distance. She was already zooming back toward me.
There's something wrong… she's taking this way too seriously…
I blocked her round kick, lunged forward and unleashed a wave of force from my palm to her forehead. Her head jerked back and I flew clear just before she tried to turn things around with a headbutt.
"Something wrong?" I asked. "This is starting to look less and less like a sparring match."
Naya shook off the damage before responding.
"I was wondering if you were actually going to try this time," she said.
"It's always been like this," I said with a frown. "Why would you expect anything to- ohhhhh."
"This is about yesterday isn't it?" I said flatly. "You're worried again."
She settled into a lower stance, expression serious. "I wanted to draw out your real skills. Seeing as everyone else failed… well…"
I raised an eyebrow. "So you want me to hurt you?"
"No," she answered honestly. "But I was wondering how exactly you were going to fight if I pushed you."
"….."
She frowned. "You're not going to say anything?"
"…."
"Well here I come then!"
She zoomed back into fighting range and let off a flying knee. I moved past it, placed one palm on her gut and then shoved her to the ground in one motion. She immediately flung herself to her feet in preparation to continue when I stopped her.
"Your back hit the ground first. I win."
"…What?"
"Your back hit the ground first," I said pointedly. "The match is over."
She looked quite surprised at first as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Then she smiled and shook her head as I finally stopped floating.
"You're right, sparring rules," she agreed. "I forgot."
A sort of relief was obvious on her face. I knew why. She has fought me before. Several times. Not training, not sparring but true battle. Even if it didn't show, she was afraid, deep down somewhere just as I always feared that I would justify that fear if I ever fought her with my full capability.
"You're not the enemy I should be hurting," I said eventually. "Don't do this again."
She gave me a surprised look. "Riku…"
"Oi! Alien turd! We need heals for the next regimen!"
"I'm seriously going to kill you. You don't need Shinpa, I'll heal your stupidity permanently."
Seph had been explaining the finer points of our spar to Kin and Hiyori. Our conversation had gone mostly unnoticed. As everyone gathered round Elder Shinpa and Jepu gave me the evil eye it was hard not to think that things were all ok. But I knew better… things were never ok. Naya wanted me to fight like how I used to fight.
The problem was that I couldn't control it. It wasn't like a switch I could flip whenever. If that part of me were so easily influenced things would be so much easier… I could stop being so tense…
"Riku."
"Hmmm?"
It was Seph talking to me. He gestured behind him at Elder Shinpa, who was looking at me expectantly with his hands glowing green. I nodded and walked toward the diminutive Namekian. I had to stop going back into that. There were more important things to do at the moment. As the healing energy flowed through my body I decided to think only of training. We were going to step things up from here.
Frieza Planet 79, two weeks later
As he floated in the tank supposedly unconscious, Vegeta was stewing in his own anger. His humiliation at the hands of those scum. Nappa was dead now, failure of a Saiyan that he was, leaving Vegeta and that clown as the last living Saiyans. The thought alone was enough to make him absolutely livid. He had mastered their little tricks… sensing energy and altering his power level. He had grown stronger as well during his recovery despite being unable to move.
The door to the room opened and one of the medics walked in to look at Vegeta's readout. Behind him three others were looking at his other vitals.
"Seems he's awake," the lead medic said. "Let him out."
As the other medics made the necessary checks before letting him out one of them asked, "So what happened to him?"
The lead one shrugged. "He arrived a few days ago completely beaten up. Goodness knows what he ran into. Nappa isn't with him either, we can only assume it was very bad."
The pod was opened and Vegeta stepped out completely naked.
"Welcome back Vegeta, sir," the lead alien said. "Please excuse my asking but what happened to you?"
"Where's my armour?" Vegeta asked, completely ignoring the question.
The medic gestured. "This way."
He led Vegeta to a changing room and picked out a folded and clean body suit along with white gloves and white boots.
He held up Vegeta's heavily cracked body armour. "We got you a new suit but your amour is unusable at this point."
"Get me another one then," Vegeta said as he slipped into the body suit, wore the gloves and pulled on his boots.
"At once."
The medic returned with much simpler body armour. Unlike his previous one that came with three extended parts that served to protect his lower half to some degree this one was pretty much just a vest with shoulder pads. Whatever… he would take it.
Vegeta took it from the medic and asked as he wore it, "Is Frieza here?"
"No sir," came the reply. "He left a while ago."
Vegeta snorted in response. "So he's already bored with this Planet…"
"Sir, Kiwi said to tell you to meet him in the training room."
Vegeta finally got the thing on and headed for the door. "Tell him I have nothing to say to him."
"Your scouter…"
"Keep it. I don't need it."
Vegeta knew that the Dragon Balls were tied to the Nameks. The filth from E-arth had told him that because he killed the Namek the Dragon Balls on that mud ball were rendered useless. If they were so closely tied to the Nameks odds were if he went to Namek he would find Dragon Balls. If not Dragon Balls, a way to find more Dragon Balls. This had been an easy enough deduction but first and foremost he was going to go back to E-arth the very next day and then he was going to kill all the filth that had so humiliated him. Then he would wish for immortality and deal with Frieza.
As he walked down the hallways of the base toward the docking bay where the pods were kept someone got in his way. Purple skin, black armor, black body suit. Kiwi.
"Hey Vegeta," the soldier greeted.
"Go away Kiwi. I don't have time to listen to you."
Vegeta was going to walk right past him when Kiwi placed a hand on his shoulder pad and gave him a condescending smirk. "Lord Frieza is very upset with you Vegeta."
Vegeta looked back over his shoulder. "What do I care, he's not even here. Now get your dirty hand off me!"
"Frieza's being very nice" Kiwi continued, completely ignoring the comment and not taking off his hand. "He's forgiving you because of your discovery."
Vegeta frowned. "What?"
At this point Kiwi took his hand away and smirked even more condescendingly as he said, "He was so happy to be able to get eternal life and youth."
Shock ran through Vegeta's entire system. "What?! Frieza hasn't left for…"
"Namek," Kiwi finished with a grin.
Frieza knew?! The absolute last person he'd wanted to hear about the Dragon Balls was now going after them!
Shit! He heard my conversation. I wasn't careful enough! Vegeta thought. I have to get to Namek before him or I'll be his slave forever!
"You wanted the Dragon Balls huh?" Kiwi kept talking. "Best forget about them, Lord Frieza is killing all the Nameks after he makes his wish."
"THAT BASTARD!"
Vegeta was already tearing down the hall toward the space pod docking bay. His thoughts were racing on the various implications of Frieza obtaining the Dragon Balls and the various implications of his discovery of Vegeta's treachery. He could hear Kiwi calling after him but he ignored it; that maggot was hardly worth talking about at this point. Petty, selfish and worthless besides their strength were monikers that served to describe the entire Frieza Force and Vegeta could care less who was after him or what any of them could actually do. He was an elite who was much stronger than before. Anyone who got in his way would be eliminated with prejudice.
He burst into the docking bay, got in a pod and quickly entered his coordinates. Within minutes, he was racing through the emptiness of space toward Planet Namek. No one could have the Dragon Balls! He was the one who was going to wish for immortality! He would not let Frieza have the Dragon Balls! No! Just no!
Dirty lizard! This is one thing you are not going to take from me! I swear it as the Prince of all Saiyans!
Unknown
As expected, Frieza had gone after the Dragon Balls. The figure considered intervening, after all the lizard would probably make a troublesome wish like "Make me immortal!" and it would have to come up with some way to monitor the nuisance for the rest of his miserable life. Naturally this would be because Frieza would come to believe being immortal somehow made him a threat of some kind…
The figure snorted. Even Beerus knew his limits, but clearly Frieza did not… and if there was one thing the figure hated it was disrespect. Still it was a good opportunity to see all the Saiyans reunited, it had yet to see them work together after all.
Not for the first time it wondered why it was bothering with these Saiyans, there were many other races it could have chosen. Saiyans weren't even the only warrior race anyway. They probably didn't even know why warrior races existed. If their only purpose was life they would have come equipped only with what they needed to survive, but Saiyans had far more than that and never questioned it. Then again they had yet to discover that they had far more than that…
So much work to do… But ah well… there was time. It could afford to amuse itself watching things play out. Besides the way things were looking the Saiyans might just begin to discover their true potential…
It couldn't resist a smile.
Namek was looking like the place to be…