Chapter 24

Tarden sat down meditating with Xiox in the chambers of the Grand elder's chambers, after each training session Xiox would tell Tarden to meditate for an hour. Which at first Tarden thought was a complete waste of time, which caused Xiox to laugh remembering how he used to say thin the same when he and Gwynn where chosen as candidates. But as the months went by Tarden has grown to enjoy the moments of tranquility and rest he would get, feeling much more alert and rested than he would taking an hour power nap. At the same time both warriors opened their eyes the calm focused looks on both faces.

"Good it took you about 4 months but I believe you understand why meditation every day helps you focus and stay sharp." Xiox said getting up, no longer needing much assistance and if the metal enhancements weren't visible you couldn't tell he was crippled.

"Yeah, at first I thought meditation was just about gathering Life energy, but now I realized what we do to activate spirit armor is something completely different." Tarden said standing up and following after Xiox as they both made for the exit.

"I glad you realized that Tarden, now have you memorized the prophecy?"

"Yes, the prophecy was told to the third ever Grand elder over thousand years ago, by the Enlightened one. While who the enlighten one was is unsure we have been told to heed his words carefully. That in the distant future the planet will face a series of invasions from the heavens, But the invasions that should be noticed are the three omens that will be bring fourth the end times. The sudden appearance of a tree larger than any ever recorded, the complete destruction of the Temple, and the arrival of a Monster. Only the chosen one will be strong enough to defeat the monster, and the fate of the not just the planet but the galaxy would be in the chosen one's hand, and the chosen one will become the most powerful mortal Alive at the time."

"Yes, I fear we have already seen two signs, and I fear the monster from the prophecy is the emperor your mother warned us about. I Fear the chosen one could only be one person, and you already know who I think it is."

"Well looks like that won't come anytime soon, mother and Turles still have me beat, unless you count spirit armor…You don't think I will have to face this monster is the emperor Cooler mother told me about." Tarden said.

"Based on the description of the treacherous acts he has committed I would call him a monster, but I won't worry too much Tarden, if we are lucky you won't have to face that monster anytime soon." Xiox said to the boy, "But enough of that you have students to attend to." With that said the two bowed to each other as Xiox watched the young saiyan fly off. "Now to continue my own training." Xiox said as he walked to his destination.

When Tarden arrived he was pleased to see the group of Masters he had been training for little over a year now, ever sense Xiox became the grand elder. His two most promising students being the brothers Dorn and Daus who joined his class these past few months' sense Slug, and like many of his students and every other student at the temple, the brothers have gotten much stronger. When training his students Tarden typically made them spar with each other or even against him. Through each session he would correct and instruct how to avoid mistakes. Other days he would put them through extreme physical work outs. But today was a simple day, Tarden only planned one thing.

"All of you have been training your bodies and minds harder than ever before, for the past four months we have trained hard every day nonstop minimal breaks, not just you but everyone else at the temple including me." Tarden said as all 100 of his students listened all agreeing since they all had the rank of master, the first thing in the morning for them is to train the younger students, the apprentices and warriors, now as the lower ranked students are resting or at home would be when the Masters are split into three groups of 100, to be taught by an Elder. The Elders take turns Bi weekly teaching each group allowing each elder to train in their own ways while three train the masters.

"And I know for those of you in front of me, have been through a lot through my training, the past 13 days have been possibly your worst 13 days ever." This statement cause mixed reactions as students winced at the memory or nodded long nervously. It was known that training under Tarden was the most difficult sessions, Tarden didn't hold back in spars, so if they made him through a punch they had to be ready for it. Several times students have been beaten bloody and even broken a few bones, only for Tarden to heal them back up to continue. The only other elder to train under pretty badly was Ginny, the youngest Elder was now infamous for not allowing breaks, while she didn't physically beat you, she did make everyone use up the last bit of their strength. The only upside was that she did have mercy if you tapped out she wouldn't punish you. Tarden on the other hand had a unique way of punishing those who quit early during training session… Tarden would force those students to eat his failed cooking, recipes and flavors that made people sick or regret, borderline cruel and unusual punishment.

"Today is the last day of your training under me… therefor I hope you all mentally and physically prepared for what's about to come." Tarden said as they all tensed up "For your training session today and for the next 2 hours, you all will have to…relax." As soon as he said that the Students cheered as a few civilians who work for the temple started to bring out portable kitchens and fresh fruits and other ingredients.

"Ahh yes the Day we have been Waiting for, after 13 days of hell we earned the Saiyan feast from Tarden!" One of the female masters shouted as others continued cheering, the 14th day of training under Tarden has been the key feature of why all the students who have had him teach appreciate the 13 days of hell. The past four months Tarden chose to make the 14th day of training a day of rest. As Tarden prepares a feast for all 100 of his students. As the single solitary Chef, Tarden chose this as a way to train himself, as he made sure that when he started to cook not to waste any movements or waste any time. Watching Tarden perform during this time was quite the spectacle, one chef preparing 100 meals all at the same time, moving faster than most could ever do. Not only was the speed impressive but the accuracy of each cut, and the timing of what's being heated up and even the amount of spices was improving every time Tarden does this event. This will be the third time Tarden will perform this event named by the students as the Saiyan's feast, and possibly the most impressive feat was how Tarden used his tail to help cut and prepare ingredients while his hands worked on other things.

The students watched mesmerized for a total of thirty minutes while Tarden moved with no wasted effort and with such speed accuracy and grace the food being cooked better than what the students would eat normally. When someone asked why Tarden chose to do this the young boy would say, "My mother taught me to cook over the years and one thing I learned from that experiences is that mistakes are not tolerable in her kitchen, I got the scars to prove it, but more importantly when watching my mother prepare a meal by herself to feed the whole family, I was amazed at how perfect she moved preparing the meal. I decided that I will do the same, and surpass her, and while I can cook a 100 meals with a quality to satisfy my mother, I have yet to master the same quality of her cooking." Everyone knew that the boy was competitive, wanting to surpass his mother in combat and the kitchen, and several times in the past they remembered the days Tarden would appear at the temple with the largest of bumps and bruises ever because Yami wasn't satisfied with his cooking ability. Needless to say Tarden claims this as an excellent way to train the timing and fluidity of his moments, while the students get to enjoy rest and a good meal.

Then the bell rung and time was up, each student watched as 100 hundred cooked meals of the various sort sat before them on plates ready to be served, it was the Tarden finally stooped moving out of breath but with a vicious smile, "GO ahead and dig in… it's the best I have done so far." Tarden watched as they all rushed in to get their food while he stood aside catching his breath. 'If I keep up this style of training my ability to process and understand my surroundings will improve drastically, next time we get attacked not a single minion will slip passed my awareness, next time I will defeat them all before a minion could make things worse like with Slug. I'll be damned if I let them power up like that again, or get distracted by my friends.' Tarden thought to himself as he remembered that Slug got his youth back because Tarde didn't stop one of the minions or the time he almost died to garlic junior. 'I must be aware at all times.'

Tarden stopped his train of thought when he walked up to Dorn and Daus, "You know you too are becoming stronger faster than everyone else, if you keep that up you could be Elders by next year." Tarden said to the brothers who stopped eating to look at each other in surprise.

"No way you mean it!" Daus said

"But the gap between us is so large." Dorn said.

"Well you shouldn't compare yourself to me or my siblings. We may be the youngest Elders but we are definitely the strongest of the bunch. Besides I said almost, when I think your ready we will allow you to challenge whoever you want for the elder trials."

The two brothers looked between each other with hope and determination, causing Tarden to smirk as the saiyan remembered how weak the two started out, and seeing how powerful they have become, even though the brothers where older Tarden could help but feel proud of his students. 'They could probably defeat some of the Elders now, maybe even Karax or Lucis. Maybe together they could give Ginny a tough fight.' Tarden thought to himself as he watched his students eat, and strange feeling of joy as he remembered how the Llab first treated him.

The distant memory of the warriors calling him a monster, or a freak, where over the looks of fear that he used to relished became looks of respect and admiration. Even the times Tarden will walk the streets of the city the whispers of fear and the shouts of anger, the words the people said that hurt more than any stone they could have pelted him with just a year ago, have transformed into distant admirers and cheering fans. Tarden started to blush at the awkward moments when women came to take pictures with their adorable savior, or how the girls closer to his age would swoon and shriek if he even acknowledged him. Yes, in almost half a year's time the people of this planet no longer feared the Saiyans, no in fact they are treated as celebrities. Tarden even heard his mother Talk about fan clubs being made and how she was annoyed by the sudden desperate attempts to have Yami acknowledge them, they even enjoyed the threats she said and the looks of disgust. Tarden was just surprised that when people feared you they just don't want to get hurt, but when they worship you they would beg for you to "step on them" as Tarden heard his mother complain before to Gull.

"Hey Kid!" Turles shouted, getting everyone's attention. "How long are you going to attend to the flock before you decide to come up here and fight me!" The older Saiyan said flying above Tarden's students, but before Tarden went up to spar with Turles the boy smirked as he heard the sudden excitement around him. Sense Tarden makes the 14th day a day of rest he spends his extra time sparring with Turles early. Tarden looked around as he saw the warriors waiting to watch and even noticing the camera crew trying to record the daily events at the temple start to prepare one of the drones that are now making Fen wealthy as the sole provider of said drones.

"Relax uncle, unless you really want to lose that bad!" Tarden said challenging the Saiyan as he flew up.

"That's some tough talk considering I Have more wins," Turles said smirking.

"Yeah but considering that I won the last 5 out of 10 fights, I think it's time I claim number six." Tarden now flying past Turles as the other saiyan starts to fly with him high enough so that their spar doesn't damage the ground beneath them.

"That's what you think, your losing streak begins now." With that said the two waited until the drone just broke the clouds and caught up, signaling the two to finally fight!

At Tarden's home

Gull had the house clean and was seen playing a game with a headset on, talking to a few of her online friends, and more importantly playing the game that was just released LLabnogard Fighters Z, which was a super popular fighting game based on real life warriors from the temple, including all the previous Elders and Grand elders depicted in their prime. Ginny usually played one of the counter meta teams, which consisted of Elder Wax before he became grand master, Grand Elder Alter, the founder of the temple and last but not least Master Tarden.

"Wow I still can't believe you discovered how well those three complement each other in combat." One of Gull's friends said.

"Yeah who knew you found a great counter for the top meta team comp." Another friend said.

"Well the new DLC Characters are individually powerful, they don't cooperate well together. It's what I love about this game, you have to think about who works well with who, while Master Tarden was released He specializes with attack and speed as well as a great counter, but his health is bad so you need a great support. Which is why I used Elder Wax, which is currently still the best defensive unit, while not as tanky as Invader Yami constitution wise, his regenerate and spirit armor buff can make up for Master Tarden Glass cannon tendencies, if you can time switching correctly. As for Grand Elder Alter, is the perfect vanguard unit, not only is he fairly balanced, when he gets KOed, he grants extra defense for his team mates permanently if he is the first one KOed. In other words, Sacrifice Alter, and time the switching between Wax and Tarden, once you have that perfected you can counter the DLC Meta. Cause Yami has the highest Health in game but she lacks mitigations, that and the Saiyan buff is Her only O.P. ability. The more damage she takes the harder she hits. Elder Tarden is OP only because he is a tankier version of the Master version, the only weakness being that using the Spirit armor ability is super risky due to his being the longest cast time in game, he is easy to counter when people try to use that ability, especially if you use the speed characters like Master Tarden. And Invader Turles is the newest character, and as the only character with Super armor he is pretty wanked, but Counter characters are his weakness because he is slow. So Each member on my team can juggle him with the correct timing." Gull Lectured blind to the fact Yami Just walked in now waiting for Gear and Ginny to come home to train them.

"Wow you make the Saiyan team sound so beatable, despite being the number one Meta team right now."

"Well that's because people haven't found a way to counter them sense Master Wax doesn't do much damage and Alter is thought of as a sacrifice character. Give me another month and I can find another team to defeat the Meta." Gull said with a smirk.

"Ugh video games, they make no sense I would never to anyone on that team of yours in a fight."

"Well not everyone can fight like you, they have to make it possible to win, its more mentally challenging and stimulating.

"Hey GalateanX who are you talking to?" One of Gull's friends asked, Causing Gull to laugh,

"Just my sister she came back from her workout. Now she is just waiting for the kids to come back from school so she can coach them in sports?" Yami sat beside her amused, mouthing the words 'You should tell them' While Gull giggled and mouthed back 'No, they would Freak.'

"Oh ok Tell her we said Hi." One of the online friends said as Yami and Gull laugh.

Laughing Yami says, "Hi, I can hear you."

"Hey GalateanX, when are you going to do a face reveal?"

"I understand not letting the world know but we been playing for years now, we won't tell we promise."

"I highly doubt that!" Yami said causing Gull to laugh as the others online heard and gave up as they continued playing, Yami watching in amusement, until the rest come home. 'If only these peaceful days can stay, this way for a while, but Yami knew that eventually Cooler will find them. 'I'm confident Turles and I can defeat Cooler together, it's Salza and Coolers armored Squadron I'm worried about, Tarden can easily defeat Salza but on his own, no Gear and Ginny will need to support him, like how Gull plays this game, one thing I learned from you gull, power isn't everything, not that I'm going to tell you that.' Yami thought to herself watching the woman she calls sister play her game, secretly learning as much as she could so that she could apply it to real life combat.