"He just doesn't get it!" Lapis launched a ki blast into a boulder, vaporizing it instantly. "Just cause he's strong, just cause he has all those powers, we aren't like that. Just cause we're supposedly stronger than he was as a kid doesn't mean things aren't hard for us!" He paced around. "And to think, I'd think of all people, Lazuli would understand me, but she thinks I'm crazy!" He shouted into the air as he raised up his ki to fire another blast into a group of rocks. The ground shuddered and trees swayed from the force of his blasts.
"Are you done?" Piccolo asked. He was in the middle of a meditation session, which had been rudely interrupted by the brat before him. Quashing his desire to kill the human before him, the green-skinned man glared at the boy. "If you're done venting, leave me be to my training."
"How are you training?! You're just sitting down." Lapis asked, his anger fading slightly.
"I'm not 'just sitting down', I'm image training and focusing my spirit." Piccolo sighed, "it's not like I need to answer your idiotic questions. Leave my presence, now."
"Oh come on… don't act like you completely hate me." Lapis chuckled as he floated over and moved to poke the green namekian. Before he could, a powerful force of ki blew him back, knocking him into the capsule home Jazz left to Piccolo after their training concluded.
"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear." The demon clan namekian began, "I'm not your friend or ally, I trained with your surrogate father to kill him and everyone else responsible for my progenitor's demise. And don't you think otherwise." He allowed his energy to rocket out, shaking the ground around him. "I've been a little too soft on you human brats, haven't I?" Lapis got up shakily, his eyes wide with fear and uncertainty. "Is this the best you can do? If you don't raise your ki up now, I'll kill you." Piccolo charged.
Lapis flinched, but as the Namekian's killing intent washed over him, he instinctively activated his pump-up technique and charged forward, roaring in defiance and charging forward.
Piccolo batted away Lapis with a casual swipe, sending the boy spiraling into the floor. Lapis screamed out in agony as he landed hard enough to dislocate his shoulder. He got up, bleeding and lame from the shoulder. Piccolo gave him little time to get his bearings as he charged forwards, punching, kicking, and striking with nearly devastating force. The youth struggled just to keep up, dodging a swipe only to take a kick to the chest. Blocking a kick only to get an uppercut, destroying his guard. Every blow he attempted was caught, and Piccolo would then strike him in the face as retaliation. Despite the pain he was in, Lapis continued fighting, his frustration and fear turning into anger. His attacks got sloppier and easier to avoid and disrupt, but Piccolo raised an eyebrow at the force of the attacks as their fight continued. Eventually, Lapis cupped his hands together: "DESPERADO BURST!" Multiple balls of ki launched out of his open palms, engulfing the Namekian in a barrage of ki.
"Was the enemy as strong as I?!" Piccolo roared, flying through the barrage. "So strong as to shrug away your best efforts?!"
Lapis felt tears welling in his eyes in the face of the demon's overwhelming power, yet he raged onwards, attacking with even greater and greater ferocity until he blacked out.
The boy awoke inside the simple cot in Piccolo's home. He moved his hands to his body, realizing that all his injuries were healed.
"Don't tell me you don't remember the Senzu Beans."
Lapis turned to glare at the green-skinned asshole. "Shut up!" He got up and charged forward.
"I take it that your spirit is more resilient than your body then." Piccolo laughed. "Alright then child, let's see if you can impress me this time..."
…
Training had been a part of his life from the moment he could think. Master Shen had found him as a baby, and trained him to the utmost of his ability. And taught him to be a ruthless monster: unrelenting, unremorseful, and unbeatable, until he met Son Goku. It was the first time Tienshinhan met someone he could consider his match, and Jasper was the first person to handily beat him. But things would be different. He turned to his training partner, Chiaotzu, what the young man lacked in raw power, he gained in sheer psychic ability, attained from years of dedication. His friend knew where he was lacking and made up for his weaknesses by focusing on his strengths. Tien knew where he lacked as well. The Turtle School focused on the body first, with ki development being supplemental, thus, the spirit control of the average turtle school student would be worse than that of a Crane School Student. However, by focusing on the body and building a good foundation, the Turtle School Students were hardier, healthier, and had an easier time when they began to develop their spirits and temper their ki. Tien immediately understood the benefits of Turtle School Training after being convinced to train with Roshi for a month.
"It was never that our training was for naught." He murmured, repeating Roshi's advice, "we simply hyper-focused on the advanced techniques first. Now, we need to build up our foundations." He was currently staying in Capsule Corp, Yamcha had practically forced him and the others to come, and Bulma graciously invited them over. Her father, Dr. Briefs, had several state-of-the-art machines designed to assist them in training, a few of the machines even impressing Tien with their technical prowess.
"Mr. Tien, how do you think you'll do in the tournament?" Chiaotzu cocked his head at Tien.
Tien looked on at his friend. Chiaotzu looked the same as the day they first met, and despite all that had happened, he conducted himself in his same, child-like way, a testament to his strange constitution. Despite, or maybe because of these traits, he and Tien were best friends and maintained an amicable situation.
"I think I'll win it this time." Tien grinned, "as powerful as everyone else is, my fusion technique will put me on top. The only one I'm worried about…"
"Jasper?"
He shook his head," I know the weaknesses of the fusion. So rather, I am cautious of Goku's sheer power.
Chiaotzu nodded, "I get that." He looked towards the sky, "they're in the time chamber right now…"
Tien nodded, "yes."
…
"You know, I thought it was weird, but ever since that time you came back from that Fire Lady."
"Annin." Jazz said back quickly.
"Sorry, the name was Annin." Hercule continued, "you've been a bit different; I finally realized what was so weird."
"You did?" Jazz asked.
"Yeah, neither you nor PaoPao seem to look much older, I checked some group photos, and you're a bit more muscular, but that's really it, your face is almost the exact same, even your hair is the same."
"I cut my hair by the exact same amount every 3 weeks." Jazz offered. "Besides, if I didn't, my werewolf form would drape to my waist, and I don't need that mess, no thank you."
"Sure, that's probably true, insane and weird, but true." Hercule chuckled, scratching his mustache and cleft chin. "But that's not what matters here," he pointed at Jazz, "no wrinkles or nothing man, you're like those immortal movie stars everyone thinks are vampires."
"They aren't." Jazz said, "but some indeed have yokai blood, granting them a longer time with a youthful appearance." Jazz stretched his limbs. "Anyways, yeah, I think the phoenix did something to my body, but I'm not in a position to hate it, it's saved our lives a few times."
Hercule nodded, "yeah, it did." He decided to change the topic, "who do you think will win the tournament?"
"Let's continue training." Jazz got up, smirking at his afroed friend.
"Nope…" Hercule returned a cheeky grin as he pointed at the clock. Jazz looked, and blinked in shock. "Damnit, you wasted the last 3 hours just talking…"
"Heh," Hercule chuckled, "maybe I did…"
The first thing Jazz felt when he left the chamber was an immediate feeling of relief. The first three weeks within the time chamber were simply him attempting to survive the extreme gravity. Hercule got used to it much faster than he did, owing to the afroed man's higher power level. Eventually, Jazz caught up and the two began to train, after 6 months, Jazz implemented weighted clothing into their routine, adding a new level of difficulty. Often, if not for his healing ability or the senzu beans, they'd be dead on the ground.
"Pretty amazing." Hercule began.
"Hmm?" Jazz asked though he felt he already knew what the man would say.
"Those other guys, pretty amazing, especially Goku, I didn't say anything, but he's ridiculously powerful."
"Yeah, he is, the others know too." Jazz chuckled.
"I don't think he's as strong as you though, teach." Hercule stared at Jazz flatly, "and from the stuff everyone says, I think you hold back a bit when you fight him."
Jazz smirked, "maybe a little, but not in a way that matters. If I wanted to kill Goku, then yes, you could say I'm holding back. But I want to beat him in a real match, at his best. Poison will slow him down but he won't be at his best, enough fusions overwhelm him isn't a fight, nor would it interest me." They stepped through the doors into the bright morning sun a year had passed behind them as they stepped into the next day.
"I still think it's insane that only a day passed." Hercule had brought an atomic clock with him into the time chamber. To his shock, it took a little over 6 minutes before a single second passed on the little machine, yet his normal analog clock passed time like normal before the high gravity destroyed both watches. He stood in front of a mirror, taking out a razor to shave off his beard and retain the mustache he had been cultivating over the last few years.
"You think it was crazy?" Jazz materialized a pair of scissors with the namekian magic he had honed over his training journey and trimmed his hair back to its manageable levels. "You can fly, shoot energy from your hands, lift several hundred tons, move, react, and attack at several times the speed of sound, bordering light speed or even beyond with some movements, sense the life energy of those around you, acknowledge the fact that monsters, gods, demons, and even friggin aliens exist, understand that there are literal alternate universes with things beyond our wildest dream, and draw the line at a time controlling room?"
Hercule waved him off, "you act like it's the most natural thing in the world. Everything started being crazy when that pink bastard struck down my sensei. Honestly, Miguel's probably the most normal part of my life." He smiled faintly, "I'm not much for sentiment, but I want to do her and our baby proud." He turned to Jazz, "you better not hold back."
Jazz nodded, "I won't."
…
Goku bounced in excitement, he was barely able to sleep. "The tournament is tomorrow! I'm so excited!"
"Yeah yeah," Krillin mumbled in exhaustion, "Be excited at a lower octave please, I need to sleep."
Yamcha was out cold, a comically large snot bubble over one nostril as the scarred warrior slept.
"Jeez, that guy could sleep through a war if he wanted." Krillin sighed.
"Aren't you excited about the fights?" Goku asked, grinning widely.
Krillin shook his head in amusement, "I'm not that excited, it's a tournament, and I want to win, but if I spend too much time excited about the future, I'll be too exhausted to face it."
Goku nodded sagely, "I guess that makes sense." The tailed young man yawned and stretched, "goodnight then!" He fell asleep almost immediately, leaving Krillin as the only one awake.
"...Damn." Krillin felt a bit irritated as he stared at the ceiling, soon, boredom overtook him and he fell asleep.
…
Afterword:
Jasper(Jazz) Duncan
Age: 21 and 10 months
Hair color: Red
Skin color: white
Race: "Human"
Height: 6 feet 0.5 inches | 184.15 centimeters
Weight: 195 lbs | 88.4505 kilograms,
Skills: Advanced Staff Technique, Advanced Kinjutsu (sword technique), Advanced Hand-to-Hand technique, Advanced Ki techniques, Mastered Magic Materialization
Capable of creating: Conventional Weapons, Food, and various tools (limited by his knowledge of the materials, craftsmanship, and scientific knowledge)
Weapons that can be created: Long Ruyi Jingu Bang, Long Bansho Fan, Ryu Kusanagi, Wyvern's Wind-And-Fire Wheels, Dragon's Flame-Tipped Spear, Fafnir's Gungnir, Leviathan's Trident, Jorgumandur's Svalinn, Hydra's Ancilla
Powers: Elemental Magic Materialization, Capable of summoning and freely manipulating fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, ice, smoke, and steam, capable of manipulating and stirring the growth of plant and animal life. Mastered Telekinesis.
Mastery of General Magic Concepts and abilities. mastered understanding of intermediate-level magical techniques, and an advanced understanding of advanced magical techniques.
Shapeshifting: Mastered Skill level (indefinite)
Transformation Power Techniques
Noble Werewolf: True Awakening: 6.25x power
Ultimate Full Power: A renamed form of Pump-Up/ Max Power, no longer lowers speed, instead it now grants strength and speed proportional to power gain, due to witnessing Launch's utilization of the technique, the power raised up to 6.4x
Talisman Magic: Body Enhancement: 5x Power, drains magical energy over time, lasts 30 minutes at full, before then draining ki,
1.5x level: can be used for 12 hours straight
2x level: can be used for 4 hours straight
3x: can be used for 2 hours
4x: Can be used for 1 hour
Emissive Techniques: Kamehameha, Don Don Pa, Solar Flare, Tri-Beam, Thunder Shock Surprise, Barrage Ki attack, Magic Fire Kamehameha, Thunderfire Kamehameha. Ki-Flame Sword, Marshmallow Meteor,
Body Techniques: Four Witches Technique, 12 Eyes Technique, Fusion Dance, Wolf Fang Fist, Mafuba
Blessing from a "Friend": Enhanced strength, speed, stamina, durability, and senses, capable of surviving a 2 fold fusion without extreme backlash.
Powerlevel: ?
Power of Just Werewolf: ?.?
Power of Pump Up: ?.?
Power of Werewolf and Pump Up: ?,?.?
Power of Werewolf, Pump Up, Magic Talisman Technique: ?,?.?