Dimensional Hoppers

Chapter 5

I think it was currently the afternoon, not too long now and it'd be evening. Food is thankfully covered, for now, thanks to me. But I'm not too sure about where we could stay. There must be hotels of some kind, right? Even if we did find one lurking about in Planeptune, what's to say we'll even have enough money for it. Seriously, if Derek wasn't such a kid sometimes we wouldn't be in this mess.

Though that's just me worrying about the near future, I'm sure it'll turn out alright. Right now I'd like to solve my boredom. Apparently, once you've discovered you can run faster than most cars back home, walking seems really boring. Especially when your friend named Derek is talking to IF and only to IF.

I turned around holding my destroyed lab coat over my shoulder. "Hey, Derek!"

Derek turned his head towards me. "What is it?" IF seemed to be interested in what I had to say too.

I small smirk came across my face. "How about you stop talking with your 'girlfriend' over there and let's do a race, I'm getting seriously bored."

Derek frowned at that. "A race huh? I don't know about you but I don't think Windwalker over here could keep up." He pointed his thumb back at IF before continuing. "And by the way, she's not my type, no offence."

IF sighed. "None taken, and don't you go counting me out yet." IF smirked. "I'm not known as a walker of wind for nothing, I'll have you know I'm faster than you think."

Thinking about it, she's probably not talking out of her ass here. I mean, she was able to keep up with us, speaking of that.

I frowned at what IF said, she noticed before I could say my piece. "What? Something wrong?"

I nodded. "As a matter of fact, yes. Back home no human could do what you do, either you're not telling us your secret heritage or…"

Or there's a certain power here that wasn't a thing back home. Is it ki? No, it can't be, I'm not even sure if it's actually real yet. Even so, the ki I'm talking about was made in a story.

IF took the silence as her cue. "Well, it's probably not back on your world but here? We've got something called magic, which helps out with a lot of things."

Derek's face lit up but was quickly shut down by IF. "Don't get any ideas, you two probably can't use magic. Since it was discovered that no otherworlder had an aptitude for it."

So magic huh? Guess that explains a lot about her abilities, and if it's able to boost her physical state then I'd assume it's similar to ki. Though I'm not sure how it stacks up to the power of ki and all that. Again, this is assuming that ki actually exists, which sure I said it was made in a story, but so were Saiyans.

My face remained neutral to IF's answer. "So does magic just boost your physical self?"

IF smirked before bringing her hands up. Before I could question what she was doing a fire lit itself into existence from the palm of her hand.

IF smirked at the looks on our faces, especially Dereks. "No, it can do a lot more than just that."

I have to admit I was impressed, if Derek's face was anything to go by he was way beyond just impressed.

After a minute of gawking, I awkwardly tried to steel my expression. "Well, that's quite impressive IF, I wouldn't count us out of the game yet though."

Derek tried to save us some face. "Yea! We'll have you know that we can use-" I stopped him from his ramblings.

"You can use… ?" IF stopped the fire in her hands before crossing her arms.

"Well we might be able to use it, it's not that important, trust me." I awkwardly laughed while keeping Derek in check.

IF tilted her head in suspicion. "Really?"

I nodded my head. "Yes really."

She didn't seem to buy it and only squinted her eyes further.

I sighed. "Look I don't even know if it exists yet alright? We'll tell you all about it if we can actually make it work, deal?"

IF finally gave in. "Fine, but it better be worth the wait. I don't know what the hell 'it' is but if you can't tell me this over being literal aliens then it must be something crazy."

"Don't worry, it's not world-ending." I gave a smile, before letting go of Derek.

Derek coughed a bit letting the air back in his lungs. "Dick, I could have passed out you know?" He then pointed an accusing finger at me. "Plus can't it destroy literal wo-"

I quite literally slapped him to the floor before he could say anything else. "Just shut up until after would you?!"

All I got in response was a muffled aye-aye captain before I turned back towards a confused IF. "Should I even ask?"

I shook my head no. "Ah, alright."

Derek took his head out of the ground before taking a huge breath. "Ugh, I feel like I just shit three ways from Sunday."

I helped him up letting IF walk ahead a bit. "Look sorry about that, just don't talk about that right now ok? Could ya do that for me?"

He nodded his head while holding onto it. "As I said, aye-aye captain."

With that, we kind of forgot about my whole proposition of a race. So much for curing my boredom that way. Seems like Derek's got that more than covered with his antics. We walked for a little more before we came upon the cities walls again. Thankfully it wasn't as complicated as before with IF here.

From there we took what I'm calling the 'boom tubes' all the way to the guild. It wasn't all that complicated to get ourselves in line and to complete our quests. As for our reward apparently, if we just tapped our bracelets we could get info on our own funds, so that was a handy thing to find out.

Afterwards, we went out to find a place to eat at. I took the liberty to hold the door open for Derek and IF as we went out of the guild. "Alright, me and Derek here aren't all that familiar to Planeptune, so it's up to you to find us a place to eat, IF."

IF sighed. "Great, so not only am I paying, but I've got to find us a place huh?"

Derek shoved IF playfully laughing. "Well don't back down now, you're the one who accepted the bet anyway."

If it was even possible she seemed to sigh even further with gloom present around her. "You got me there…"

Suddenly her mood changed and she turned towards us smirking. "Well then, I think I just got an idea!"

I quirked my brow. "An idea? Is it food-related? Cause if you couldn't tell, I'm hungry."

Derek raised his hand. "Is it going to be magical food? Please tell me it's magical food."

IF kept her smirk up. "Yes, it's food-related and no, it's not magical food."

Derek frowned. "Well if it's not magical food then spit out what it is."

"We'll be going to my friend's place, her name's Compa. Before you go saying anything, she's a really good cook, you won't be disappointed."

IF's smirk faded as she pointed towards past the bacilicom. "Her place isn't that far from here. Just past the bacilicom."

I took a moment to think about it. "What do you think Derek?"

Derek shrugged. "Food's food. Can't complain how I get it anyway, it's going to be free either way."

I nodded. "Well said." I gave IF a thumbs up. "Lead the way."

IF nodded as well. "Good choice, you won't regret it."

Following IF, we talked on the way about random things, though one thing that I brought up caught IF's attention. "You guys don't have a place to stay?"

I shook my head confirming again. "Yea, aliens and all that."

IF shook her head in mock surprise. "Man, and here I thought you guys had a spaceship."

Derek heard IF's giggles and frowned. "Oh shove it will you? It's not that funny."

"Any more?" IF turned around with a shit-eating grin. Derek just grumbled in response.

IF calmed herself down before turning to me. "Anyways, If you want you two could stay with me and Compa for a while. That's if you behave though."

I smiled at the suggestion. "Thanks, I think I could speak for us both when I say we appreciate that."

I turned around towards Derek looking off into space. "Although I'm not too sure on Derek behaving."

Derek turned around looking confused. "Huh? Did ya say something about me? Wasn't paying attention."

I sighed in frustration. "IF's kind enough to invite us to stay at her place with Compa."

Derek's eyes widened a bit. "Whoa, I didn't know you could come onto us that strong Windwalker."

I karate chopped his head. "Not like that, get your head out of the gutter. She's just letting us stay a bit since we don't have anywhere to live right now."

Derek rubbed his head in slight pain. "Ow, alright I get it."

He turned towards IF in question. "Though, is it going to be alright with your friend Windwalker?"

"Yea, I called her up while you guys were talking with yourselves earlier. She's a nurse so she's used to company and all that. If I know her then she's probably fixing up dinner for us right now as we speak." IF kept a smile throughout her little ramble.

I smiled along with her. "She sounds like a good person."

IF's smile stretched further as she looked on ahead. "Yea, she might be ditzy at times but in the end, she's a really amazing person."

Derek held back a laugh at IF. "What's this? Is the Windwalker walking on love?"

IF put up a casual middle finger while still walking ahead. "You're an ass, you know I don't mean it in that way."

Derek bumped his shoulder against mine. "Wow, would you look at that? She wants to do it!"

Sighing I face-palmed. "You and I both know that's not true, now come on, I don't want to lose her in this crowd."

Derek calmed down quickly following. "Fine, fine."

As IF said, it didn't even take an hour to get to Compa's. Right now we're standing in the lobby of an apartment. Guess she wouldn't be living in a house if this population's density was anything to go by. Though now I'm concerned if there will be enough space for the two of us.

IF seemed to have caught my concern on my face. "If you're worrying about if you'll be a bother, don't be. Compa's got a guest bedroom, so you two can do whatever guys do."

I felt reassured by her words. "Good to know."

With that IF went on to buzz Compa, luckily she got an answer quickly.

"Who is it?" A soft voice came through the intercom.

"Compa, it's IF, could you open the door?" There was a pause.

A buzzing was heard and the lobby door opened. "Sure Iffy!"

Derek was the first to comment. "Iffy? Pffft."

IF walked past us to the elevator. "It's her nickname for me. Got a problem?"

"No no, I don't have any problems with it, Iffy." I chuckled a bit at their antics.

IF signalled us to come into the elevator. "Oh yea, laugh now while you can, you'll get what's coming to you."

Derek and me looked towards each other before shrugging, then laughing a bit before entering the elevator. IF sighed while punching in the floor number. Wouldn't you know it, Compa lives on the 7th floor, lucky girl. Now that I think about it, I'm going into a girl's place for the first time. You know other than my mother's room of course.

Though I'm going to hope that it isn't as traumatic as an experience.

A few minutes later and with some internal freaking out, we arrived at Compa's door.

IF turned to look at Derek with a dead-serious expression. "Don't make any sort of trouble, you hear?"

"I swear on my mother's life that I Derek, will not cause any sort of trouble." He had a grin on his face the whole time.

IF sighed. "Close enough I guess."

She knocked on the door and I heard someone on the other side. "One second! I'm coming!"

Derek snickered before I slammed his foot with mine, shutting him up. "Ow…"

A second later the door opened revealing what I assumed to be Compa.

From where I was Compa seemed to be a little taller than IF and a lot more cheery in appearance. Honestly, when I looked at her it just screamed girly. She had some sort of long light pink hair that reached her shoulders. Eyes that matched the colour of her hair, she also had a black hairband with a 'C' on it as a wool pin.

Going down she had a black choker with a little heart on it as well. Wearing a white wool sweater top she had arm warmers that matched with little wool balls on the top. She also had a sort of fanny pack on its side, with heart-shaped buttons and another 'C' as the bag part.

If I'm being honest it looks too good to be one of those weird fanny packs some of my gym teachers used to wear.

Other than that she had a red plaid skirt with blackish-brown knee-high socks to cover her legs. To finally complete the look she had boots that seemed similar to her sweater off to the side. Currently, though she was wearing slippers.

Compa gave a smile before speaking. "Hello Iffy," Derek snickered again. "I'm guessing these are your friends you talked about right?" Compa said while looking over IF's shoulder.

IF nodded. "Yea, sorry about all of this, kinda lost a bet."

Compa pouted at that. "Iffy, what did I say about doing bets with people you just met?"

IF lowered her head in shame. "Not to do it, sorry again."

Compa picked up her head forcing IF to look into her eyes. "Good now let's go on inside, you two should leave your shoes here."

Compa pointed towards beside her boots. "We have spare slippers over here as well if you'd like them." With that, she quickly went back inside.

I took a second to digest all that. "So, is she not going to ask for our names?"

IF smirked. "Give her a second, she's kinda difficult with names."

I shrugged and followed IF inside closing the door behind me. Taking off our shoes I decided to take a pair of slippers just to be nice. Derek seemed to agree since he got a pair himself. We walked behind IF until we entered what seemed to be the living room. Honestly, if everything in this house has the same decor then my eyes are in for a treat.

It's like Compa just copy and pasted her own outfit to the whole apartment. Pink was literally everywhere, I didn't even know a room could have this much pink. The walls with pink, the furniture in a cozy style, with pink. But the thing that caught my attention was the pretty sizable TV on a side of a wall. Honestly for an apartment, it's decked the hell out.

Guess I know I won't ever be bored looking around the place, shesh I think my eyes are actually bleeding.

Derek seemed to get the same idea. "So much, fucking, pink." Luckily he was whispering that since IF didn't notice.

Looking around I saw Compa sitting down on the couch signalling us to come over. I took the other couch with Derek while IF sat down next to Compa.

Compa took initiative in the conversation. "Sorry for not saying before but talking while sitting is always better. My name's Compa, it's nice to meet you um…"

"Chester," I pointed to myself. "Over there you'll see Derek, please don't mind him." A small 'hey!' could be heard but I ignored it.

"Nice to meet you Chest-, Chestive-, ah I'll just call you Chesty." Compa thought before pointing to me.

I looked on dumbfounded before Compa pointed towards Derek. "and I'll call you Dery!" It was even worse for Derek, he seemed to vault forwards in awe.

Derek looked towards IF for some clarity, but all she gave was a smirk and a little chuckle.

I sighed ignoring the weird names Compa just gave us. After all, we were in her apartment, can't complain about how she goes about naming people.

"Well Compa, it's nice to meet you too. IF's told us you're quite the nurse," I smiled throughout before grinning in anticipation. "And quite the cook too."

Compa smiled at the compliments while IF put her head down in slight embarrassment. "Yessy, I actually had dinner ready for me and Iffy, just had to make some extra for you two. Would you like to eat now?"

Derek recovered from the insane name before answering for me. "Yes please, I'm fucking starving my ass off right now."

IF seemed a little pissed at Derek's language. "Derek, what did I say about this?!"

Derek frowned. "It's not my fault alright? I really am dying here."

Before IF could continue Compa but in laughing a bit. "It's fine Iffy, you know you swear sometimes too when you get grumpy."

IF only stood there in slight shock before standing up in embarrassment and going towards the kitchen.

Compa chuckled again before turning towards us. "If you two would like to the kitchen is this way."

She stood up following in IF's footsteps towards the kitchen. Naturally, we followed along too and arrived to find a table full of food. I look my seat to the outermost left side with Derek beside me, while Compa sat beside IF on the right side of the table.

Compa gave us a smile motioning for us to eat. "I've already set everything up beforehand, dig in!"

I nodded in thanks. "Thanks for the food," I grabbed Derek's head and forcibly made him put his head down in thanks as well. "And Derek thanks you too, even though he seems to be in a trance right now."

Compa giggled a bit before digging into her own food. Following suit both me and IF also dug in. Though if anything Derek seemed to demolish his food. Not as in he was eating fast, just he didn't show too many manners while eating. Considering we didn't do too much strenuous activity today, our saiyan appetites shouldn't be that greedy right now.

It was a nice meal Compa made for us too; rice with some steak on the side, cut up eggplant in the rice itself, with a cup of milk to the side, there was even a jug of milk in the middle for refills. It didn't just look good it actually tasted good too, I didn't know if it was from my new biology but I didn't know food could actually taste this good.

Since I was a lot slower with my plate I tried to bring up some conversation.

"So IF, Compa." Both mentioned put their attention on me.

"Yessy? What is it Chesty?" Compa said with a tilt of the head.

I sighed. "I really appreciate the free food and for letting us stay a while until we find a place of our own of course, I wouldn't want to intrude more than necessary."

IF waved it off. "It's no big deal, it's nice to have company over once in a while anyway. Plus it's less money off my block."

"About that, It wouldn't sit right with me to take too much advantage of this, if you two need anything I'm more than willing to help," I said with sincerity.

Compa answered for IF. "Well, it would be nice if someone could help clean up the place, Iffy isn't too good at cleaning."

My face lit up a little. "Alright, we can do that much, anything else?"

IF spoke this time. "Well, I would like more help with the guild, it's getting a lot more stressful lately and I'd really like the help."

I nodded. "We can also help out with that, again, thanks a bunch for letting us stay for a little bit."

IF waved it off again. "And again. It's no problem alright?"

I nodded in relief and decided to finish up my own food, no surprise here but Derek finished before all of us and gave his thanks before cleaning up at the sink.

Derek caught Compa's attention. "Hey Compa, you know where I and Chester can stay for a bit? We've got some stuff to do, and you Chester, hurry it up."

Compa responded with a smile. "Yessy, just down the hall to your left, please clean up after yourselves alright?"

Derek did a mini salute. "Will do ma'am." He walked off with Compa's directions in mind.

I finished up my food before following suit. "Thanks again for the food Compa, I'll help out with cleaning up if you don't mind."

Compa expressed her thanks before I went to work and help around with the dishes and such, of course, I asked beforehand if some places needed cleaning before going ahead. Plus I left the other rooms I didn't know too much about to themselves. Didn't want to barge into places where I wasn't welcome.

After finishing up I did the same salute and went off towards Derek. "Let me know if you need anything Compa."

She nodded before IF butted in. "Don't be a stranger alright? Come to the living room once you guys are done, I need to show Derek some of the shows I mentioned." I nodded before heading out to the guest room.

Once I came in I saw a very bored Derek suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. "There you fucking are, took you long enough, did you take your sweet ass time eating or something?"

I sighed. "I don't know if you were listening but it's a part of the deal we have going on, you should have helped you know."

Derek tilted his head. "What deal?"

I gave him a dead look. "Wow, okay look. For getting to stay here I suggested some sort of repayment; Compa said to help clean around the apartment while IF said for us to help with her guild work."

Derek pouted. "I can understand helping Windwalker with the guild, that's fun, but cleaning? That seriously sucks."

I snickered. "Deal with it alright? It's better than being homeless you know? Apparently, hotels are a bust if what IF said was true, too expensive."

Derek sighed. "Oh well, you lose some you win some, now, teach me how to use that life energy fucking thing."

"Ki' I corrected.

"Yea that... how do we use this ki? You said all this shit about it, so now I wanna use it." He said with impatience.

I took a pause before starting. "Well, first of all, I don't know too much, as I said before. But I do know enough about its capabilities, just not too much on how to get it."

Derek frowned. "Well, what do you know? Anything could help us you know."

I took a breath and started to pace around before sharing. "Alright, I guess the first step is meditation, clearing yourself of all thought. But since we're Saiyans I'm going to out on a limb here and depend on our emotions."

Derek rose a brow. "Our emotions? What's that got to do with anything?"

I stopped pacing and sat down on the floor. "Everything, almost every Saiyan in the show uses a strong emotion to release their ki, sometimes it helps them find power they never thought possible."

I continued. "So in essence we need to have a strong emotion towards something with the intent to summon energy, it should be second nature for us. If we were still humans, we'd have to meditate and practice for hours on end before actually finding our energy."

I got out of my thinking position and pointed towards Derek. "That's where you come in to play, you were already quite an emotional person, so all I want you to do is get mad and try to express that anger through using ki."

Derek coughed bringing my attention. "There's one problem with that, I don't know where the fuck this energy is in the first place. What am I meant to pull from? Like there's a lot of holes here Chester."

I thought about it for a bit before finding the answer. "Ah right, just imagine your energy around your chest somewhere, if I'm right it should originate from your heart. Since that's the most iconic source of where life comes from."

Derek nodded. "Alright, so anything else before we start?"

"Well, try to imagine your energy like a flowing river I guess? I don't know at the point, I'm just quoting a character from the show."

Derek nodded again before taking a deep breath. "Alright… think about something that gets you mad…" After about a minute or so Derek seemed to have found his source of anger, and by that he just started cursing out the wall.

"Fuck you, you fucking cunt! Don't you ever fuck with us again and your whore fucking mother!" He was taking heavy breaths after that, honestly, for context, this was probably from that one time we got jumped in middle school. Not the best of times, and but a good choice when it comes to getting angry.

"Alright, now just channel that anger and you might get it, I don't know." I gave an awkward smile.

Derek gave an awkward laugh. "Actually, I already tried that, it didn't really work."

Well damn, this isn't working out in our favour. Oh wait, maybe he just wasn't mad enough.

"Well this is a bust, seriously can't do anything right can you Derek?" I kept my expression steeled as I continued while Derek seemed a little shocked.

"I mean come on man, first you mess up with your dumb invention and almost kill us with a fucking nuke! Then, you don't even apologize after we apparently got teleported to another fucking world! More than that, you keep messing up after every turn, almost messing up a good chance to have a place to stay at, multiple times!"

Derek's face slowly morphed into anger then rage, not unjustified since the stuff I'm saying isn't entirely true, but it's working. "And do you know what? Maybe your mother was right about you, after all, you really are a useless piece of shit!"

At my last words, Derek's anger reached a peak and turned to fury.

He jumped at me screaming. "Who the fuck do you think you are saying that kind of shit to me huh!? Useless!? I'll show you fucking useless!" Before he could continue a small torrent of wind suddenly manifested as white flames erupted out of Dereks being.

Before he could continue and smash my head in, honestly was worried if he could do so at this point or not, I tried to stop him. "Derek! Wait, time out, time out!" A smile spread across my face at realizing what was happening right now.

Derek suddenly stopped seeing the smile on my face. "What? Why are you smiling like that? It's fucking creepy cut it out…" Slowly he saw his own hands and began to stare in awe at his own body.

"Whoa, no fucking way," Derek started to laugh like crazy while jumping around. "Holy fucking shit Chester, look! Man am I glad you know how to make me fucking mad huh!?"

Derek kept jumping around and laughing maniacally before I had to calm him down. "Derek calm down, and by that, I mean calm down your aura, it's making a mess."

Derek took a second before realizing his mistake. "Oh, yea sorry about that, this just feels amazing! Oh man, you've got to try this, oh wait, alright don't worry I know what gets you mad just you wait a second."

Before he could continue I stopped him again. "No, that won't be necessary. All you need to do now is bring out my energy with yours."

Derek calmed down his aura. Honestly, it was seriously unreal to look at that in person. It was like the air caught on fire if the fire was clear and created gusts of winds. hell, the room felt a little warmer cause of it. If anything it was seriously cool to look at, I really couldn't wait to feel it for myself.

"So, you gonna stop starring? Or are you going to tell me how to help you find your energy?" Derek smirked at me while I shook my head.

I sighed. "Yea, yea, alright just sit down with me here, all you've got to do is find my energy and pull it out for me or something."

Derek kept his smirk before sitting down in front of me. "Alright, but be prepared, it feels like I'm high on drugs right now." I nodded at his weird description before holding out my hands to him.

He took that as a cue and put his hands around mine. It took a solid minute of nothing. I was thinking that I had to tell him word by word how to do this, before I felt it.

Suddenly I felt a warmness encase me as Derek took what I assume to be my energy and flow it around my whole body. I was right on the money when I said it come from the heart since it felt like a river was flowing from there supplying all this warmth.

If I were to describe my energy, it felt exciting to me, like I just downed 10 energy drinks in less than a minute. Now, what happens when you have this much energy? Well, it's got to go somewhere, so I just started jumping around like Derek, laughing just as crazy as him.

It was Derek's turn to calm me down. "Hey turn off that uh… aura of yours yea, calm it the fuck down!"

I took a deep breath and with effort stopped my energy from flowing throughout my body. "Whew, that's a lot harder than it looks to do."

Derek laughed alongside me. "I know right!? Man! This ki stuff really is amazing!"

I nodded. "Yep, and it's only the beginning, how would you like to learn about actually controlling that energy?"

That's a wrap, and boy was the last thousand or so words fun to write. I mean I even went around punching the air, that's how excited I am! Before I go on a rant though let me say sorry for the delay on this chapter, it means a lot to me that you people are patient, so I thank you a lot for that.

Anyways back onto ki, I don't really know how to describe it. Since no one really has had ki before it's kinda an 'iffy' thing to describe. Although I thought about it a lot so it's not going to be too much of a problem. But on the terms with Compa, with more characters come harder interactions and I'm not sure if I did a good job with her and the whole interactions.

If any of you have any insights and or helpful comments on the matter that'd mean the world to me. Just want to know if I'm doing well in that boat or not, yknow? Also, I will be going way more into ki the next chapter, trying to get this whole ki thing fleshed out so we all understand what's what yknow?

Other than that, if you've made it this far please consider leaving a follow and favourite and again a review on the story so far. Please keep hate out of it, it's not necessary to do and just makes me upset. Now I'm going to stop rambling about this chapter and I'll see you all next Wednesday.