Goku and Gohan had finished there extra three days of training, Tarble having gotten to see them about half their strength but also held their Supr Saiyan State both before and after the training session. He even joined them to get firsthand the feeling of battle against this Grade 4 super saiyan. But they soon felt Tien and Chiaotzu's power return and they had increase in strength again. Goku most vocal about their impressive growth, Tarble more silently proud.
"So, Mister Tarble. Are you going into the chamber now?" Gohan asked, knowing that Goku and he had spoken about how Tarble may leave it to them. But part of him hoped that Tarble would go in still, as a role model for the young boy. Tarble may not have realized it, but the Saiyan had shown him several times a reluctant fighter can make a difference.
Tarble just placed his hand in Gohan's hair, just a small smile. "Head inside, get yourself something to eat and rest. Your father and I have something to discuss." Tarble dodged the question, Gohan simply nodded as he headed inside. Goku blinked as he was not sure what he needed to speak of.
Tarble waited for Gohan to get into the Capsule Corp building, before turning to his rival. "You both got plenty strong, and I know you asked Korin what he thought. But I want to ask you, what are our chances of winning this fight as you are?" Tarble's eyes looked into Goku, intense as a saiyan's would be.
"My chances are not very good. But in the end it will all work out." Goku said as he dodged the question.
"Did you make some new technique? Or did you think of some strategy to beat him?" Tarble hoped for something from Goku.
"Well it is a tournament, not to many strategies can be done tell you're in the ring. Not like it would be fair to attack him all together, not if he is being nice enough to keep it on a one on one fight." Goku responded with a laugh. "Trust me, we will be find."
"You're too casual, which puts me on edge." Tarble growled slightly, Goku laughed as it reminded him of vegeta in a way. "Even if you had a plan, it is better to still be nervous about it."
"I am, but there is no reason to get sick with worry." Goku added, his hand placed on the smaller saiyan's shoulder. "You can sit this one out, you done so much for this world already, So much that people don't even realized. Help preparing for bigger threats, always pushing others to greater heights, always looking ahead. Leave the rest to me."
Tarble felt a twinge, leave it to Goku. A lesson he had learned not to do on Namek. He needed to believe Goku would fail, so that he could train harder and push himself to even greater Heights himself. His longtime friend was telling him to sit this one out. The older Saiyan just smiled as he knocked his hand off his shoulder. "You wouldn't like that. You would lose a rival if I let you progress so far ahead."
"That's true, does that mean you are going to go train? And with who?" Goku asked, wondering if he would try convincing his own brother or Nappa to enter in with him. Two saiyans would be the best option to grow stronger together.
"I think I am going to play that close to the chest." Tarble said grinning. "You don't want to give up your secrets, then I won't give up mine." The two Saiyan's laughed together.
"Well, before you leave… I want to return a favor." Goku said, seeming to get serious with Tarble. "You helped me survive that Chamber when I was younger, I would have given up way earlier in it if not for you. And not only that, you believed I could go Super Saiyan and focused on helping me reach this form that I have mastered, and fought hard to protect my wife and Son on Namek. You have done so much for me… that I want to help you in your training a little." Goku's placed his hand onto tarble's head, grinning a bit. "So open your mind to me, I am going to show you what I did for the full year in the chamber. Every single second."
Goku then used his ability of telepathy and mind reading, two skills he did not use very often, to instead feed the information into Tarble's mind. Tarble felt like he was in Goku's eyes, watching and feeling every moment that Gohan and him trained. He felt the surge of power from the Ascended and Ultra form, the weaknesses the two forms provided, and the training they did to obtain the grade 4 state of Super Saiyan. He also felt the small burst of power Gohan had shown when he was training, and then held back almost immediately. He could see what Goku saw in his own son, the power the dwelled deep inside the young boy that he repressed. Goku removed his hand and simply placed his finger to his lips as if to keep quiet on it. Tarble then said his good bye to the Briefs family and took off for the Lookout.
-Look Out-
Tarble landed, only two days to prepare, one year and a day of rest before the Cell Games. He could feel the pressure of time against him, he could feel the eyes of the others on him. Their eyes asked for some information, some guidance of if they could win, a hint that Goku or someone could beat the monster waiting for them in the arena. Tarble found some enjoyment by this pressure, this overwhelming desperate feeling. It made him feel awake, aware, a mixture of nervousness and excitement from the looming doom. Tarble hated fighting, but thrived on this feel more and more. He could feel something in the back of his head getting restless, his Saiyan Instincts kicking in and demanding action.
Tarble just looked to his friends and nodded. "I will enter the chamber, No one is to come in with me." He announced to everyone's surprise. "I will be training in a method that is too dangerous. If successful, I should be able to end Cell with no problem. But if I am unable to complete it… or if something goes wrong I might not make it out." His words did not ease their worry, his friends argued with him, but Tarble simply declined before walking to the chamber. "No one follow me in." He said as one final warning.
Yurin visually worried, knowing her husband as a reckless man who would push himself to hard alone. She wanted to demand a promise for him to come back, but something stopped her. The determined look in his eyes, unwavering. She could feel that speaking to him might break it, might remove the fragile drive he had. As the door closed, she heard her own son yell out. "GOOD LUCK!"
-Time Chamber-
Tarble stepped forward, 16 standing ready for his next partner. The two looked to each other, Tarble feeling the strange realm for a second time. His body tingled and felt the stressful changes of the temperature, the slight increase to gravity. His fingers wiggled and his tail swayed as he closed his eyes and breathed in the thin air. He then began to stretch his body, 16 waited patiently. "So there may be a difference in training methods. You are going to help me get to Mastery of Super Saiyan, afterward… you may want to stay away."
"A sparring partner can help increase the strength of both partners, if both are organic that is. I am here to help you grow stronger." 16 said as if it was to argue.
"Right, you have a sensors for power levels right?" Tarble asked, 16 nodding in confirmation. "I am going to power up to my full strength without going Super Saiyan, then I am going to go Super Saiyan at full strength. I want you to tell me what the difference is."
Tarble moved off the platform and into the white void, and slowly allowed his power to grow. He did not want to find out that 16's sensors could break and not get an accurate measure of the form. Slowly building his Ki higher and higher without allowing himself to enter the legendary state. Once he was at his peak he looked to 16.
"Power signature shows .66 percent of my own registered power output." 16 remarked, Tarble felt the sting of being underprepared for the androids by such a great amount. Tarble then began to powering up into Super Saiyan and continued to climb higher and higher again. His golden hair stood as 16 calculated his power. "Power signature shows 33 percent of my own power output… I do not see the point of this other than to register a measure of growth against your previous self."
"You fought against Cell in his second form, if I was to increase this by ten told… would I be able to out match him?" Tarble seemed to ignore the robots response.
"Measured output would put to 330 percent over mine. At estimated levels, it most likely would not be enough."
"Your right, but after some training I would be able more than a match. Because if I can get near Goku's strength, I will overwhelm him." Tarble said as he finally stepped away. "Let us begin, first my goal will be to access the master Super Saiyan state like Goku."
"Very well, you will need to explain to me how you plan to add an additional ten times to your strength. Unless you plan on doing so by Kaio-ken." 16 said positioning himself to be ready for Tarble's attack.
"I don't know that technique." Tarble smirked before he launched himself into the start of his training. Feeling the resistance of a majorly superior opponent for the first time in a long time. Each attack proved to be nothing more than a love tap for the android and he knew it.
-Two Months in the Chamber-
With the information Goku provided him and previous training in mastering the Saiyan State, he was able to obtain control of the Super Saiyan state and access grade 4. Not he managed to stay in super saiyan state without any issue as he continued to train with 16 in the form. 16 had measured his progress for him on a weekly bases and he was already about fifty percent the androids strength as a Super Saiyan.
Because of his growth and the level of control he obtained with his state, he figured it was time to begin his next step. Having 16 step aside one day, and remind the android of his plan to become ten times stronger. His hand held before him as a white ball formed, condensed energy formed before he threw it out to the upper levels of the chamber. "Burst and mix!" the super saiyan Tarble commanded, and the ball erupted into the air. Tarble started into the light, he could feel himself flooded with Blutz Waves! He smiled as he figured he now would have control of the monstrous form, and Gero would have no information on it.
But instead nothing happened. Tarble could feel the Power Ball's effect trying to change him but something kept him from transforming. Instead he could just feel his Ki become agitated slightly and requiring more focus on keeping his Super Saiyan form. He focused and stared at the Power ball, his eyes watered and burned with how long he stared as they dried out. "Your power is fluctuation between an increase of three percent and a decrease of five percent, I am not sure this will provide you a heightened multiplier like you hoped."
"No, this worked last time on Namek." Tarble seemed confused, all the parts needed were there. He had his tail, he was a super saiyan, and he had a power ball. Why could he not become the Golden Oozaru form? "Something must be different. What am I doing differently?" he attempted to think more and more on what he was doing wrong, returning to his training for the added week as he thought.
It was not until 16 asked to be told the events that happened on Namek that lead to the transformation. Tarble informed of their battle with Freeza, his overwhelming power able to conquer each of them again and again. Then Vegeta death that set Tarble to become the super saiyan, but then he looked at the into a power ball that transformed him. 16 then asked who made the power ball, and Tarble realized he was not sure. During the events he knew someone did it, he tried to think about it. Raditz at the time had no tail and had no reason to try, Goku didn't bother learning the power ball and had not tail either. Then it snapped in his mind, Nappa was the only one with a tail at the time. But what could he have done differently? It became to important to his training to leave it to unanswered and waste time trying to alter the power ball.
Tarble exited the chamber, surprising everyone still on the look out as it was only four hours for them. The saiyan still in super saiyan form looked to his wife. "Yurin, I need you to take me to Nappa. He has information I need to complete my training." He said with urgency that surprised Yurin.
"You already in that super saiyan form constantly, do you really more training?" Yurin said a little surprised. "I mean, Goku was amazingly powerful because of that." It was a little awkward speaking to him with his intense eyes looking at him.
"I am not even stronger then 16 yet, I just mastered the form quickly. Please, it may lead to the trump card against Cell." Tarble said as his intense eyes burned, Yurin blushing lightly and look away, her heart beating rapidly.
"F-fine, I will get you over to him." She said placing her hand to his chest to make him step back, even a gentle push made him move away. She placed her hand in a small circle, summoning her new magical energy and Tarble vanished instantly.
-Paradise Valley, Ox King's castle-
Tarble found himself inside a green house with five small trees currently in the care of Nappa. It was almost funny seeing the large man gently plucking small green beans and leaving unripen ones on the trees, testing them with small squeeze and being slow and purposeful with every move he did close to them. Nappa suddenly felt Tarble's presence, and turned with a confused look on his face.
"Prince Tarble, I did not expect you to show up." He said as he placed a bean in a sack with several more beans inside. He then pulled off a pair of gloves and placed them on a central table surrounded by the trees. "If your looking for Vegeta, he is being forced to take Chichi out for a last meal with the family. I decided to stay to gather any fresh beans to use at the Games tomorrow."
"That's fine, I am actually looking for you."
"Not sure how I can help, but if your fine with this old vet helping you. What you need?" Nappa said as he rubbed the back of his neck lightly.
"On Namek, you did something to the power ball to transform into the Oozaru. Do you know what you did? I need to know as it is specific to my training. Try thinking back hard, I need to know and quickly." Tarble had a sense of urgency to his voice.
Nappa placed his hand to his chin, his face contorted with trying to think about the events on Namek. "Your talking about the time with Freeza?" He asked, which Tarble confirmed for him. The older saiyan tried to focus on the events, he just remembered making one and going straight to attack. "Nothing I did was abnormal." Nappa finally said, only to see Tarble's confusion as he tried to figure out what was different.
"Was it the Atmosphere? Did it alter the waves to act differently?" Tarble spoke out loud to himself.
"Atmosphere does not cause alteration to Blutz Waves. It can weaken the waves, but a Blutz Wave does not alter do to passing through them, only disperses them at a higher rate." Nappa said as he absently mindedly ate one of the Sensu. "But a Power Ball is made for low Atmosphere, and Namek's lower Atmosphere is not unlike Earth's." The older warrior felt he was forgetting something, before he suddenly snapped his finger. "Do you make standard power balls?"
"Standard power balls? I make the one everyone is taught." Tarble confused by Nappa's inference that there was different genre of power balls.
Nappa only letting out a laughed as he figured it out. "That explains it, I always hated the standard version. It takes so long to transform. I have been told to stop making the power balls when out on missions before because people complain about it." Nappa said as he held out his hand. A bright ball of light grew in his hand. "I make a power ball that makes around ten to twenty times the amount of Blutz Waves required."
"Ten to Twenty times more!? That is insane, why would you do that? There is no benefit in doing that!" Tarble exclaimed, seeing the ball of energy in his hand and hearing the buzz. "For one it would put such a strain on your eyes needing to absorb the waves… and it just creates a massive number of unneeded waves."
"Yeah yeah." Nappa waved of the claim consistently yelled at him. "Vegeta always complained about it hurting his eyes too, and that the transformation would take place even if he only caught a glimpse. Some smart guy also claimed that our body converts the waves to some sort of aggression chemical, and absorbing so much turns people into beasts more then warriors." Nappa said laughing as he flexed before his Prince. "But I always kept myself in control, I liked the rush it gave me and road the wave of feral passion that came with it. I felt unstoppable when I transformed."
"So, you did it because you liked to rush it gave you, and didn't care about any other affects it might have one you?" Tarble asked, and had a thought that a standard only cause his ki to shift wildly. Could it be that the super saiyan state resists some of the Bluts Waves? Or was it that the Golden Ape just required more?
"There isn't any draw back to it, at least once you get use to it. It is like being filled with excitement, raw fury, and a primal need to such a high intensity. If you're a guy like me, you probably enjoy it. When I get into a fight, I like to enjoy it after all." Nappa said as Tarble seemed to be thinking deeply. He grabbed a small pouch and a handful of sensu, placing the magic beans into the pouch and closed it up. "Here" He tossed it to Tarble who grabbed the pouch in the air. "Like I said, once you get use to it. Your body will feel like it is on fire and being torn apart when you revert back. It took me a month in a healing pod to recover the first time. Use those to repair your wounds. Who knows, it might give you a few Zenkais."
"As a veteran, your supposed to warn the younger generation to not do stupid things. You know that right." Tarble said with a small smile.
"Naw, I learned it the hard way. Younger fellows need to find their path as well. If it matches my old way, I can give what insight I have." Nappa said just grinned. "Just be careful, I even only started with five times to high… I chose to go higher because the high was so good. Don't get to absorbed in it."
Tarble nodded as he began to take flight to head to the Lookout once more, his gaze turned to the sensu beans in hand. "Thank you." He called back, Nappa just turned and waved two fingers for luck. Tarble then burst with energy to fly quickly back to the Lookout, and straight back into the Chamber. He informed 16 of what Nappa told him, and 16 recommended that they change the training away from super saiyan to mastering the Power Ball training.
Tarble nodded as he finally turned off his Super Saiyan state, returned to normal. 16 warned he cannot measure the unknown radiation wave. Tarble remarked that he would be the one to take care of it, and they should train while he is transformed to try and increase his base strength still. Tarble then forged another Power Ball, and found it was hard to change from his natural attempts of a normal Power Ball. It took him time to instead increase the power of the technique, time that 16 made sure to take advantage of and strike Tarble. 16 made it clear he would not hold back their training simply because he was trying to work on a method for his transformation. Tarble nodded to this, instead forced to dodge while he worked on increasing the power ball and aimed for only twice as much as normal.
When he launched the Power Ball, he felt the waves hit is eyes. His brain almost felt like it was on fire, his eyes strained at the surge of radiation flow into his body. His tail lashed behind him as his body began to transform much faster. It almost felt like his body was being torn open as he transformed. His body felt like he was in a sugar high, so filled with energy and unable to sit still. His muscles felt tight and demanded to move, to charge, to attack. He barely could keep control of his own mind as his body attempted to overwhelm the android and was soon tossed back. Roaring out and charged again.
The two did battle for the next few hours before the Power Ball finally dissipated, and Tarble soon realized exactly what Nappa meant when he said it took him a month to recover. Every cell in his body felt like it was ripped off his body, a slight movement would cause his whole body to surge in pain. He felt it hard to breath, it almost felt like his lungs refused to move as well. He could only scream out in pain as his body seized again and again, as he tried to reach for the pouch. 16 was quick but the intense pain made it feel like he was going slow, the android finally placing a sensu into his mouth. He chewed, forcing his jaw to move and swallowed the moment he felt he could. His body suddenly healing, almost as quickly as the pain started. "Nappa did this to himself, and liked it?" The saiyan questioned the universe and wondered what kind of drive Nappa had when he enjoyed something.
For the next few months, Tarble continued this training though. Slowly his body grew use to doubling. He then turned it to triple the amount, and felt the greater primal call for his feral side to take over. The saiyan was amazed with how invincible he felt with only three times the normal amount of Blutz Waves, and had to work on meditation as well. He would not try attempting Golden Oozaru again tell he only had three months left in training, and finding he needs at least five times the normal amount. But not only that, the super saiyan state even in grade 4 enhanced the aggression of the Oozaru form. Tarble could control himself in normal Oozaru but in the Golden form he lost all sense of control and returned to his beastly instincts. 16 only surviving due to Tarble's disinterest in him at first.
And so Tarbles training continues in the time chamber, and his attempt to master his own trump card? In three months will he be able to master it? Will he obtain a mastery of a form that will surpass even Goku's expectation? Will this form limit the imagination of the others in the future? Will it be enough to defeat Cell? Let us see in the next chapter!