Interlude-Later at Baba's Palace
A year and a half had passed for Yang since he had arrived at Baba's Palace. Under her tutelage, he had not only unlocked his own ability to manipulate mystic energy but had learned an entire repertoire of spells. Nothing that would directly damage an opponent, mind, but he had learned how to materialize objects from mystic energy with Magic Materialization, as well as spells to temporarily increase his power, stamina, and speed by half again his maximum in the form of Accelerate, Oomph, and Buff. Not only that, but he had learned how to decrease enemy power and stamina with Sap and Blunt and was working on the Decelerate spell to decrease enemy speed. Currently, he was in the midst of sparring with Cabot again, this time wearing weighted clothing that he had made via Magic Materialization, attempting to pull off a Decelerate successfully for the first time as he concentrated on gathering mystic energy to do so. For his part, Cabot was rushing towards Yang, attempting to swat him to the ground before he could pull off the spell which would see Yang gain a large advantage in this bout. Yang dodged as he muttered an incantation under his breath, narrowly avoiding the open hand slap from Cabot that would see him smashed to the arena tiles. Cabot turned to face Yang as he repeated his incantation, ducking underneath a swipe of the Troll's Clawed hands which would see his head potentially get taken off by the powerful blow.
Finally, after dodging multiple attacks and focusing on gathering mystical energy, Yang's incantation was complete and he thrust out the gathered mystical energy, shaped by the incantation into a Spell Matrix designed to slow his opponent. As the Decelerate took hold, Cabot felt as if he was trying to move through molasses as he attempted to swat at his opponent with a double axehandle blow. Yang for his part, dodged by a wide margin this time, and hammered several blows into Cabot's back and sides, capping off his flurry of elbows and kicks with a kick aimed at the troll's knee joint. The attack thudded home with a crack as Cabot's kneecap slid out of place and the large and mighty troll toppled to the arena tiles. Uranai Baba, watching the bout from atop her levitating crystal ball called a halt to the sparring session soon after.
"You have managed to pick up the most basic of spells in a relatively average amount of time. Much like my brother reported, you seem to make up what you lack in natural talent with hard work. I think, given the circumstances you are ready to learn another, more useful, spell." Said Baba.
"Are you finally going to teach me an attack spell?" Asked Yang, a note of hope in his voice.
"Now how would an attack spell help you fix poor Cabot's leg?" Grinned Baba.
"So what? A healing spell?" Asked Yang.
"The most basic one. It wound heal grievous wounds or mortal blows, but it should be sufficient to patch up a broken bone or two. Or in this case an out of place kneecap. It's called, mundanely enough, Heal. I will give the Ancient Sages credit for coming up with spells that humans could use relatively easily, but their naming conventions left a lot to be desired. Should you learn Heal to my satisfaction, then and only then, will I teach you an attack spell." Replied Baba.
The Rest of that month and the month after was spent learning the intricacies of Heal. Baba had stressed that it was important to have a basic foundation for medicine in order to know how to apply the matrix for Heal and the first 5 or so weeks was spent being drilled on medical assessments, first aid training, and anatomy. Only the last 3 weeks was actually spent on learning the incantation to form, and then how to apply, the spell matrix for Heal. It was almost enough time that Cabot could have healed on his own without surgery, almost but not quite. Once Yang had gotten the matrix and incantation down, he had managed to cast the spell relatively easily on Cabot's leg. Of course, this had cost him time that he could be used to train his body. By now there was only a year and a month left till the next Budokai. Yang didn't know what training the others were undergoing, but he knew he needed to at least keep up physically if he wanted magic to be his trump card. By the start of the last year before the Budokai, Baba finally began teaching him an offensive spell and he had barely managed to increase his physical power over what it had been due to focusing so much on physical training.
"Now I warn you, attack spells are not like those Buffs and Debuffs you learned before. Those have safety nets built into their spell matrices where if the matrix is improperly formed and applied, the spell simply does not work. Attack spells by their very nature have the intent to do harm as part and parcel of their spell matrices. That is why I had you learn Heal first because if an attack spell's spell matrix is improperly formed, the potential for the mystical energy to rage out of control and harm everyone in the vicinity instead of just your target is large." Explained Baba Uranai.
Yang nodded, taking all of this information in as best he could. "What spell are you going to teach me?" He asked.
"Given your propensity for utilizing electricity in your attacks, I thought it best to start with something familiar. This spell is called Zap and it uses mystical energy funneled through its spell matrix to emit a bolt of mystical lightning at your opponent. It is the weakest of 5 lightning-related spells that the Ancient Sages developed from studying mystic energy that humans can use. Your facility with ki techniques that utilize this element should help amplify the spell somewhat as it seems that your use of those techniques has left a lightning aspect imprinted upon your soul. The spell matrix is molded like this. . ." Began Uranai Baba as she began to teach Yang how to cast the weakest of the 5 lightning elemental attack spells.
Over the next 2 months, Yang picked up Zap and started on what Baba called a 'suicide attack', a spell that uses up all the mystical energy that a combatant has in one, great, indiscriminate, attack. She called it Magic Burst and it would cause disproportionate damage on an opponent at the cost of exhausting your ability to cast spells for several hours. However, what was suicide for Baba, whose primary method of defense was magic, was not as bad for someone who could fall back upon ki as an option to fight. So Yang spent the next 4 months learning how to utilize Magic Burst. When done with that, Baba started him on alchemy, but before Yang knew it, May 7th was coming up again and he had barely learned to make a Lunaria to remove paralysis and heal wounds in Baba's old alchemy Pot before he had to leave for the Budokai.
"So. You're leaving for the tournament?" Asked Uranai Baba.
"I am." Replied Yang.
"Well I suppose you weren't the worst apprentice in the world, but I still have more to teach you. If you survive what is coming, I would welcome you back into my palace to continue your studies." Said Baba.
"What do you mean if I survive what is to come?" Asked Yang, confused.
"My divinations have determined that a great evil will rise during the tournament. If you compete, you will surely get caught up in it along with your friends. I do not know what manner of evil will rise precisely, but I do know that it is a powerful one. I would caution you to be careful." Replied Baba.
"I will. Thank you for everything." Bowed Yang to Baba.
Baba simply snorted and said, "I mean it, boy, don't die. I would hate to think I wasted the majority of these past 3 years." Before floating away. For his part, Yang was heading for the coast where, with the aid of magic he learned from Baba, he managed to materialize a small rowboat and began to row himself across the South Sea towards Papaya Island.
All the while, he wondered what the great evil Uranai Baba had foreseen could be. . .
XXXX
Author's Note:
Power Levels, this one is well in advance of schedule because I'm setting things up for the future and magic is a hell of an equalizer. We have one last interlude to go before the 22nd Budokai and the eventual release of King Piccolo.
Once again I am using Dragon Quest spells for magic and will likely do so as well for inhabitants of the Demon Realm if they should come up.
254: Yang (Weights On, Suppressed)
262: Yang (Full Power, weights off)
393: Yang (Improved Maximum Power)
589.5: Yang (Fully Buffed With Magic + Improved Maximum Power)