12
Earth, Sol System
11.2.43
0555 Hours
"Damn it boy, what are you still doing in bed?!" Vegeta roared.
Trunks snapped awake, momentarily disoriented.
"Wipe that stupid look off your face! Kakkarot and his spawn are already on their way to the training room." The only reason Vegeta wanted Trunks there was so his own son wouldn't look like a slacker compared to that of his arch-rival's.
The purple-haired demi-Saiyan hopped out of his bunk and landed gracefully on the floor. He quickly donned his blue under-suit and Saiyan chest armor, almost tripping out the door to keep up with his infuriated father, who was storming towards the lift.
"Where's everyone else?" Trunks asked.
"Probably already there," Vegeta snapped.
The teen said nothing. His father was more surly than usual and it was best to stay out of his way. His head ached a little, but he shook it off. He was wondering why he was so tired until he remembered that he had been out until the early morning with Eve. She was like no one else he had ever met...so carefree one moment, then cold and hard-bitten the next. She sure was cute though...Trunks perished the thought. There was no time for that now. His mind would once again have to focus on training.
The Saiyan Prince and his son actually made it to the training room ahead of Goku and Gohan, who along with Chi-Chi ended up on the wrong side of the ship. Once again, he used his instant transmission to get where he needed to be. Piccolo and the others were all gathered there, with the exception of Eve, who no one seemed to notice was absent. Sabre entered last, through a door that blended seamlessly with the wall.
"Alright. I'm glad everyone is here on time. Take a look around you." Sabre gestured a sweeping motion with his arm.
All of the walls were lined with solid white paneling, as was the floor. At various points on the ceiling, floor, and walls were tiny, shielded cameras, which connected to a control room where the action inside could be safely viewed. At certain points in the chamber were what looked to be hatches from which various devices could enter. While not as intimidating as the time chamber in the Lookout, the room seemed pretty formidable.
Sabre gave them an overview of what the room was capable of.
"Due to the fact that we're onboard a ship, this room can only supply up to 750 times Earth gravity." Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien began to look doubtful. "Any more than that would implode the ship. Temperatures can be raised up to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit or lowered to 1200 below zero. I would suggest that you do not power down in those extreme temperatures, unless you want to burst into flames or freeze solid." The humans looked sick. "The walls are layered with energy dissipating crosshatching, so don't worry about stray blasts. You do have to worry about cracking them with stray blows, though. This room is equipped with automated weapons identical to the ones you'll come into contact with while we are in battle. The Saiyans will go up against them first so I can gauge their strengths."
"What do we do during all this?" Bulma asked.
"You, Chi-Chi and the rest can watch the action from the control room." "Shall we begin now?"
"Yes, please, could we?" Vegeta asked sarcastically.
Sabre ignored his comment. "To get to the control room, go through the door I came out and climb up the ladder at the end of the corridor."
The non-participants made their way out, the door integrating itself seamlessly back into the wall. Upon entering the control room, the group was directed to a large viewing console that had a primary video feed into the training room. The control room itself was operated by two crew members, both seated at a large workstation displaying multiple video feeds and digital readouts.
Back in the chamber, Sabre directed the action. "Okay, all of you line up, arm's length apart."
The Saiyajin's did as they were told, each wondering what was going to happen next.
"Now, I want to watch each of you power up to you max as fast as you can. Trunks, you go first."
The half-Saiyajin nodded his head and got into position. He pulled his arms into his sides, looked down, and began to focus his energy. The air around him began to become distorted with the heat from his energy. His hair began to dance around his shoulders, then, in a burst of energy, flashed gold. Simultaneously, his eyes turned turquoise and his muscles inflated with power. His hair became spiked and stood out from his head like needles. His muscles continued to inflate until they were almost twice their normal size. When he finished he spoke.
"This is as strong as I can get before I start to lose speed."
"Alright, Vegeta, your turn."
Normally, Vegeta would have made some cocky remark about what a true Saiyan's power looked like, but he said nothing now that Gohan had ascended to a new level.
Vegeta took about half the time to power up, simply crossing his arms in the process. His normally small frame was pumped to its max, his jet black hair now the color of a super-Sayjin.
"Happy now? I don't know what you are trying to prove."
"You'll see. Goku, you're up."
Goku put on his cocky smile. He crossed his arms in front of his head and powered up. Since he was already a super-Sayjin, the only noticeable differences were his muscle's slight increase in size. However, his ki skyrocketed, and Sabre felt that his power was a good bit greater than that of Trunks or Vegeta. They felt this too, but said nothing.
"Alright kid, show me what you got."
Gohan nodded his head and began his charge up. His stance was identical to that of Goku's. Sabre noted that even though this boy was extremely powerful, he was still only a child. He was still attached to his father, and looked up to him for guidance.
The boy continued his power up, and soon blue streaks of electricity began to dance around him. Eventually, they began to crawl over his body as he ascended to SSJ2. Goku looked on at his son with pride, knowing that the power next to him was of his own blood. Trunks saw the look in Goku's eyes and wished his father could express the same sentiment. He didn't understand why he was so cold...
Gohan finished charging and stood before the human with a smile on his face.
"Not bad, kid. You guys as a group are pretty impressive. But, with the exception of Gohan, you're all still weaker than my former team. You still need a lot of work to reach my level. I'm not too worried, though; I know how much you Saiyans love a challenge."
Vegeta, being blunt as usual, lashed out.
"What do you know about us Saiyans? How can you pretend to even begin to understand our race?"
Sabre glared at Vegeta. "I probably know more about your race than you do. I have grown up around Saiyans my entire life. And I'm used to your attitude. Now," he said, without slowing down, "what you'll be exposed to here is a full-scale live-fire exercise.
"What?" Goku asked.
"I want to see how you react to being shot at. Don't underestimate these weapons. They are like nothing you've ever encountered before." When he finished speaking he left the glowing Saiyans and proceeded to the control room. Once there, the operators pressed a series of buttons. The lights in the chamber dimmed and the sound of mechanical lifts and hydraulic pumps could be heard. Simultaneously, panels all over the wall pushed forward and slid to the side, revealing a variety of weapons.
Back in the control room, the crewmen pressed a few more buttons and a warning claxon sounded, signaling that the weapons were armed and ready to fire. In front of the operator's control screens were wire frame representations of the four Saiyans in the chamber. On each of the screens were the vital signs of the combatants. Currently, all of the wire frames were green. A switch was toggled, sending the weapons into free-fire mode.
Back in the chamber the four warriors looked around at the firepower aimed at them, each slipping into a fighting stance with only mild concern. Each piece of ordinance locked on to a target and began to fire. The room was filled with the metallic sound of weapons fire and illuminated with the flash of automatic guns.
"Hah, what does this fool think he's doing? These pathetic weapons won't-" Vegeta's gloating was cut short when a cannon shell exploded behind him, sending shrapnel into his back and knocking him to his knees. Various energy weapons began tracking the fighters, spraying glowing balls of energy with deadly accuracy at their targets. Trunks was cut down by a volley from a heavy plasma machine gun, the bullets penetrating his ki shield and hitting him with such concussive force as to render him unconscious. A shot from a railgun put a four-inch hole through Vegeta's chest, just below his collar bone, causing him to flail about on the floor, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. Goku did his best to evade the maelstrom of fire but was hit anyway when an anti-matter grenade exploded directly in front of him, blinding him and shredding his face up pretty badly. His agonizing pain was cut short when a maser blast knocked him into merciful unconsciousness. Gohan simply stood still as the weapons deflected harmlessly off the energy shield he erected. When he saw his father go down he flew over to his aid. At the far end of the chamber, a beam cannon had finished its charge and locked on to the only remaining target.
Back in the control room, everyone was shocked to see three of the Saiyans go down in a matter of seconds. Chi-Chi had already fainted, and even 18 was surprised at the viciousness of the action. All of the spectators focused on the last Super Saiyan. Gohan was kneeling over his father when he looked up to see a huge red beam barreling at him. He braced to block it, but was ripped off his feet when the blast impacted. He was engulfed in the energy wave and thrust into the wall with enough force to crack the reinforced tile. The beam continued firing, pinning Gohan to the wall. All of the weapons in the room now locked onto the immobilized Gohan and added their volleys to the blast. When the beam weapon's fire dissipated, it was replaced with the din of pulse, plasma, and recoilless rifles, heavy machine guns, plasma cannons, masers, railguns and anti-matter grenades.
The guns in the chamber were linked up to the control room's scanners and ceased fire when Gohan's wire frame representation went red. There being no targets left, the weapons pulled back into their concealed positions. Sabre punched up a command on a keyboard and quickly moved to the chamber. He took stock of the fallen warriors and found them to be in pretty bad shape. Trunks had been knocked clean out. Vegeta was bleeding profusely from the hole in his chest, all the while cursing and writhing in agony. Goku had severe burns on his body from the maser beam, and his face was mangled to a pulp. His son's broken body was at the near end of the chamber. All had lost their golden auras. The room itself was hardly scratched; the reflective materials had worked perfectly. Only the cracked panel Gohan had hit was damaged.
Sabre shook his head at the ease with which the Sayjins had gone down. "They may be excellent fighters, but they were never trained to take weapons seriously," he thought. He reached into his pocket and removed four pills from a container. He dispensed one to each of the Saiyans, returning them to full health. They regained consciousness immediately and stood up, shocked at what had just happened.
"I told you. It's going to be dangerous. You have much training to do before I can put you in the field."
"Gosh, I never thought that those things would be so strong." Gohan said, rubbing his head.
"I'm surprised you held up as well as you did. These weapons were at full power, so it should not be too long before you learn how to effectively counter them. I used this as a demonstration to the others. You won't train with the systems at full power again for quite some time."
"Guns are for cowards," Vegeta snarled as he got up from the ground.
"That may be so, but then what does make you, being so easily beaten by them?"
"I will not be talked down to by some mere human!" Vegeta roared. "I am the Prince of all Saiyans!"
"No Vegeta, not all Saiyans. There hasn't been Saiyan royalty in the Tycho system for over seven hundred years."
Vegeta was boiling with rage.
Before he exploded again, Sabre said, "Look, you can vent all your anger on Goku in the sparring session, we're doing that next."
Goku laughed. "Uh oh. I know how Vegeta gets when he's angry."
"Shut up, Kakkarot! I'll crush you!" Vegeta stormed over to Goku, who held up his hands with a genial smile and backed away.
Sabre came between them. "Not quite yet, Vegeta. Let's wait for the others." He turned to one of the cameras. "Send them on down."
A few moments later, the rest of the warriors tentatively entered the training room, the humans glancing about nervously at the points where the weapons had retracted.
Sabre noticed this. "Don't worry, they're off."
"Great," Yamcha said nervously.
"I know...this looks bad. But we wouldn't have selected you if we didn't think you could handle it. Any of you." Jake looked at Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien.
"Now, this is going to be a free-form sparring session, only I don't want any one here to transform. The scientists back home have figured out whenever a species transforms, their base power is exponentially increased. Now, while training in this state does increase your power, training in your base forms is more efficient, up to a point, and yields better results. None of you are at that point yet. Therefore, we'll all be training more or less at the same level.
Krillin spoke up and said, with false bravado, "Sounds good. When do we get to start?"
Goku took note of Krillin's eagerness.
"Now, if you all are ready. Everyone, grab a partner. I'll take the odd man out."
Vegeta turned to his rival, poking his finger in the taller Sayiain's chest. "Kakkarot, you and I will fight!"
"Sure Vegeta, whatever you want," Goku said with his usual cocky grin.
"Uh, Piccolo, would you mind if we trained together?" Gohan asked timidly.
"Sure kid, it'll be just like old times," the Namek replied. Gohan's face lit up.
"Hey, Yamcha, you wanna give it a go?" Tien proposed.
Yamcha was having serious doubts about the whole situation, but was in too far to back out now. "Yeah, I guess."
"Uh, Krillin, I guess that leaves you and me," Trunks said. He didn't even consider Android 18. He wasn't sure if he would be able to hold back and not kill her during training. She just looked so much like the other one...
Krillin looked almost depressed for a moment, but perked up. "Sure man, I've always wanted to see how I'd measure up to one of you guys!" he said, referring to the Saiyans.
Sabre stared at 18, who stood singularly alone. The android stared back.
The human sighed, "I guess that means you and I are together."
18 wasn't sure what he meant by that. "Whatever."
"Everyone, pick a spot and start up. I won't interfere with any of your training until later today. I just want to see what you all can do." With that, Sabre motioned to 18 to come over to him.
He gave a thumbs-up sign to one of the cameras. In a few moments, the entire room was filled with a fast-paced synthesized beat which all found to be rather pleasant, if strange. Each pair took up various positions in the mammoth chamber, some in the air, and some on the ground. It made no difference, though; in time, they would be all over both. Everyone stretched first, knowing that was perhaps the most vital component of their warm-ups. A pulled muscle in the middle of an intense training session could lead to big problems.
18 walked up to Sabre when he finished his stretching. "How do you want to do this?"
"Do what you will. I'll keep up with you."
"Fine," she said flatly.
All around the room similar exchanges were occurring, albeit in a more friendly matter. Except, of course, for Vegeta.
"You may be stronger than me as a Super Saiyan, but now we are equals. Oh, Kakkarot, how I will enjoy making you bleed!" Vegeta said maliciously.
"Hey c'mon, let's try and keep this clean, okay?"
"Ha! I will fight however I see fit, Kakkarot! Now defend yourself!" Vegeta flew at Goku. They soon disappeared in a blur of punches and kicks and the rest of the group took this as the signal to commence their sparring. The room became filled with the sounds of combat as punches, kicks, and ki blasts were heard being blocked and deflected. No one was foolish enough to start their training at full power, but as time wore on the ki blasts became bigger and the blows were striking harder.
Krillin was quite pleased with himself because he was able to keep up with Trunks. The Saiyans had spent most of their time training as Super Saiyans, so their base power levels were comparable to the rest of the fighters.
"Man," Krillin thought as he deflected Trunks's kick with his forearm, "this is just like old times. Well, almost like old times," as he remembered he was fighting with a boy from the future. Trunks managed to catch him off guard and landed a punch square into Krillin's gut. Krillin doubled over for a moment but quickly recovered and responded with a kick to Trunks's head.
In Tien and Yamcha's sparring match, Tien clearly held the upper hand. He was taking the training just as seriously as ever. Yamcha had to spend all of his energy just trying to evade and block his opponent's blows.
"Hey, man, would you tone it down a little?" Yamcha asked.
"How about you turn it up," was Tien's terse reply as his uppercut sent Yamcha straight into the air.
"Aw, man," Yamcha thought, "why did I have to go with Tien? I should have gone with Krillin..." his train of thought was lost when Tien's knee struck his head.
Gohan was having an immense amount of fun while fighting with Piccolo, and Piccolo, while he would never admit it, was enjoying it as well. The two had developed a bond that was as close as Piccolo could ever come to love.
"Hey Piccolo," Gohan yelled, "watch this!" Piccolo watched in amazement as Gohan placed two fingers on his head and smiled. "Makkankosappo!" ("Demon Hell Screw," or in the American, the Special Beam Cannon) his high pitched voice cried as the corkscrew beam shot from his fingers.
Piccolo countered and destroyed the blast with one of his own, but was shocked that the boy had learned it at all. "Where did you learn to do that, kid?"
"I learned it from you, Piccolo!" Gohan said excitedly. "When dad and I were training in the Room of Spirit and Time I'd figured I would try and learn it. It took me a while, but I got it down! What d'ya think?"
"I think you shouldn't let your guard down," Piccolo said as he drove his elbow into Gohan's gut.
Goku and Vegeta were the two who were going at it the hardest and had exchanged few words. Goku realized that Vegeta was as strong, if not stronger than him in their regular forms. And Vegeta was fully taking advantage of that fact.
"Whoa Vegeta, what are you trying to do, kill me?" Goku asked as he narrowly avoided a blow to the back of the neck from his sparring partner.
"Quit your whining, Kakkarot! If you can't handle training with me, why don't you go train with the cueball." Vegeta taunted.
Krillin heard this and looked at Vegeta with an annoyance.
"Go back to training with the boy," Vegeta commanded with a smug expression.
Krillin mumbled something indistinctly as he returned to his match.
"Hey Vegeta!" Goku cried as he shot towards him. Vegeta prepared to block but was left confused for a moment as Goku seemingly passed through him. Suddenly he came from above and landed a strong kick to the side of his head, sending the Saiyan prince tumbling to the ground.
"See what happens when you get arrogant? Jeez Vegeta, I thought you would have learned by now," Goku said with a chuckle.
Vegeta pulled himself off the floor and wiped a small trickle of blood from his lip. He looked at the third class Saiyan with his usual mixture of rage and respect. Wordlessly, they launched themselves at each other and continued their fight.
Jake was keeping tabs on all the fighters as best he could. 18 wasn't making things easy for him, so he would occasionally lose track of them. He had come to realize that while this group had fought together numerous times in the past, they were hardly a unified team. Most of the humans harbored a resentment of their Saiyan friends and often underestimated their own abilities. Vegeta was a major source of tension in the group, as he was clearly not a team player. And Goku, their de facto leader, had the tendency of being much too merciful.
"Well, I guess this is the best we can do," Jake thought to himself. The back of 18's fist nearly slammed into his face, forcing him to return to the matter at hand. The android was really a fascinating creation. It had taken the Coalition nearly two hundred years to perfect their own artificial intelligences, and a hundred more trying to give them decent corporeal forms, yet this Dr. Gero had managed to do it in the span of his own lifetime. If he had not known any better, he could have sworn she was human, and that in itself was surprising. Most of the Coalition's androids had distinct traits that could identify them as such, but this Android 18 might as well have been completely organic.
She seemed to have genuine emotions, her own personality, her own will. He wondered if she even thought of herself as being any different from the others. He couldn't get a read off her.
"So, 18, what do you think of this whole situation so far?" Jake asked while sending a flurry of blows at her.
She deflected them and responded. "What I want to know is your real name."
Jake wasn't expecting that. "My name?"
"Yes, your real name. I was looking through the ship's database and it turns out your real name is classified."
"What was she doing looking through the ships databanks?" he wondered. "Oh. She is an android, and she must have easily figured out how to interact with the Dante's own AI."
"My name is none of your concern," he said as he parried a blow to his stomach.
"Well, then, mystery man, you want to know how I feel about this whole situation? I'll tell you," she said with an increasingly hostile tone.
"I was absorbed by that damn monster and thrown up when that boy defeated him. My friend 16 was destroyed and my brother was killed. Now, I am onboard a spaceship training with the very same people that are responsible for killing them to fight an enemy I didn't even know existed until today." As she spoke her attacks were becoming stronger and more accurate.
"She's feeding off her anger," he realized. "I didn't think that was possible for androids." He decided to try something. As 18 continued her furious attack, Jake began to gather some energy for a ki blast. As she swung back to deliver a right hook, he discharged his attack directly into her face. Temporarily blinded and stunned, she faltered a bit in the air. Jake wasted no time and knocked her to the ground with an overhead smash. He followed her to the floor and landed a stomp on her wrist. Hard.
After a sickening snap 18 screamed in agony. Jake lifted his foot in surprise as she rolled away and tucked her shattered hand under her other good arm. She got to her feet with a mixed look of pain and rage on her face.
"What the HELL did you do that for?!" she cried. By this time everyone had stopped their sparring and turned their attention to 18.
While inwardly Jake was surprised at her reaction, he didn't let it show.
"I had to test something," he evenly replied.
"And just what the hell are you testing?" Krillin asked, the anger clearly evident in his voice.
"She's not an android, exactly."
"What do you mean I'm not an android? I was created by Dr. Gero in a laboratory. What do you think that makes me?"
"No, your friend 16 was an android. Your brother wasn't and neither are you. You're a cyborg."
"So, what does that mean?" Krillin asked.
"Nothing, really, I thought she was far too advanced to be a simple machine, and I was right." Everyone was glaring at him now. "This doesn't concern you. Just go back to training."
No one moved.
Jake realized they really didn't like him. Fortunately, Goku spoke up and relived the tension. "C'mon guys, you heard him, let's get back to it. Besides, I still have to show Vegeta the thirty different ways I can beat him."
Vegeta immediately responded to the taunt. "Kakkarot, I will crush you!" he roared as he flew at his nemesis. The others decided it was best to go back to sparring; they didn't want to get too much into this new guy's business, not when he could kill them all without even trying.
18 still glared at him. "This really hurts, you know."
"You'll be fine. I just wanted to know if you could feel pain. Androids don't feel anything. They may have a programmed response to a broken bone or a stubbed toe, but they merely do that to blend in."
"Well how do you know that my pain isn't simply an automated response?"
"Because nothing else about you is automated. You are too 'human' to be a machine. There's more to you than silicon and neural connectors. Look at you, you're bleeding. Machines... androids...don't bleed."
True enough, 18 had a good bit of blood trickling down her arm from where a piece of her metal skeleton had punctured the skin.
"So why was it necessary to break my damn wrist?"
Jake thought about it. Why did he do that? Lately he had been thinking about his actions in the recent past, and not all of them had been logical or rational. A coldness had been slowly creeping over him, manifesting itself randomly, like back in that alley. And now it was happening here.
"...it wasn't." That was as much of an apology as he was ready to give. "Here, take one of these," he said, reaching into his pocket for another pill.
"Great, but what do I do about this?" She held up her bloodied arm and a few dangling wires were visible from where her metal skeleton had punctured her skin. Her hand hung limply from her wrist.
"Shit," he thought to himself. "Come with me." Jake then made a few hand gestures to a camera, and pointed to 18. He led her to the main entrance, where a crewman was waiting to take her to the machine shop.
Everyone immediately took notice of his absence and had stopped their training. Before anyone said anything he returned, albeit with out 18.
"Hey, where's 18?" Krillin asked.
"She's getting repaired. She'll be back here in a few minutes. Just go back to sparring. I'll watch you guys and get a gauge of your techniques and power, for now."
Despite the fact that it was very awkward for them to be told to go back to training like a bunch of kids, they did it, mostly out of fear. They had taken notice of what he had done to 18, including his response, and were now wavering in their resolution. This guy was potentially dangerous, but none of them could do anything to stop him.
No one let their disconcertion show. The group trained while Sabre watched their every move. He stood off in one corner of the room to view everyone at once. They were nearing their maximum power levels now, four hours into their training, and were focused intently on their respective duels. Piccolo clearly had the upper hand in his match with Gohan, as he was the strongest of them all in their current forms. Trunks had a small edge over Krillin in their fight, although Krillin was getting in some good hits. Tien was giving Yamcha a pretty bad whooping as the former bandit clearly wasn't putting his all into it. Goku and Vegeta were dead even, even though Vegeta's power was a good bit greater than his opponent. He was letting his anger control his technique, which made him sloppy. Every time he scored a good hit on Goku, he would relax a bit and wore an expression that gave away how he was clearly gloating to himself. And every time, Goku would come back and deliver a blow to knock Vegeta's ego into check.
Jake was making mental notes as to what each fighter needed to work on, and what techniques he could teach them to enhance their overall abilities. He was also interested in what they could teach him. They were using a variety of techniques and moves which were completely foreign to him. It would be to the Coalition's advantage to incorporate these styles. They would need everything they could use against the Necrons. He looked down at his watch to check the time when it felt like a brick hit him square in the jaw. He was lifted clear off the floor and sent skidding into the wall with a loud thud. Waves of pain made their way across his face, as did his expression of shock. He looked up to see 18 standing just next to where he had been, wearing a smirk on her face.
"Now, we're even."
Jake tried to respond but was stopped when a stabbing pain told him to reconsider. He wiped a good bit of blood from his jaw where his teeth cut his lips, feeling to make sure that his jaw wasn't dislocated. It wasn't, though it still hurt like hell. Jake shook his head and slowly got to his feet, still a bit dizzy. He looked at 18 and could see that Vrakan had managed to repair her arm perfectly; it was the same arm she struck him with.
"Ha! Look at that! The high and mighty 'super human' got beat by the android!" came Vegeta's grating voice. Now, more than ever, he really didn't want to hear it.
"Oh, great, I guess everyone saw that," Jake thought unhappily. His ego was hurting more than his jaw. It wasn't so much the fact that she had hit him, but that he hadn't even seen her coming. "You were sloppy Jake, you should have noticed her presence," he chided himself.
"That's funny Vegeta, I remember doing something similar to you, only you weren't able to stand up afterwards," 18 responded coldly.
"Are you challenging me, android? I'll break you like the cheap plastic toy you are!"
"Alright, that's enough!" Jake painfully shouted. He then turned to 18, rubbing his jaw. "So, we're even now?"
"Yes."
"You wanna' get back to where we left off?" he asked through a clenched jaw.
"Fine."
After this exchange everyone was subtly relieved. Now that 18 had returned the favor and Sabre hadn't gone berserk, they felt a little better. Maybe it was the fact that they were heading into the unknown that had them so nervous. But for now, they had gained back a little of the respect they had lost for the man.
The rest of the training session was uneventful. They trained for nearly 10 hours, and were surprised to find they were hardly tired or hungry. Jake explained that the air they were breathing was specially designed to increase oxygen levels in the blood, also mentioning the presence of micronutrients that slowly replenished the warrior's energy.
While everyone was training, Bulma and Chi-Chi decided to find something to keep themselves busy. Bulma pestered the crewmen she encountered about various technologies the Coalition used, and assimilated the knowledge at a remarkable rate. Chi-Chi found that she had a natural talent for mechanical and electrical engineering. While she had no understanding of the fundamental physics and science involved, she was able to understand how they worked together. Her attention to detail also came in handy.
When the training session finally ended, Jake headed to his quarters, just aft of the bridge. He was about to step into the shower when his comm. table lit up. The screen filled with the logo of the Galactic Coalition Special Operations Division, then with a series of warnings and official tags. He recognized the headers: it was from the GCS Acies, Resa's ship. Her face materialized on the screen.
"Colonel Devarro, we have a problem."
Earth, Sol System
11.2.43
0555 Hours
"Damn it boy, what are you still doing in bed?!" Vegeta roared.
Trunks snapped awake, momentarily disoriented.
"Wipe that stupid look off your face! Kakkarot and his spawn are already on their way to the training room." The only reason Vegeta wanted Trunks there was so his own son wouldn't look like a slacker compared to that of his arch-rival's.
The purple-haired demi-Saiyan hopped out of his bunk and landed gracefully on the floor. He quickly donned his blue under-suit and Saiyan chest armor, almost tripping out the door to keep up with his infuriated father, who was storming towards the lift.
"Where's everyone else?" Trunks asked.
"Probably already there," Vegeta snapped.
The teen said nothing. His father was more surly than usual and it was best to stay out of his way. His head ached a little, but he shook it off. He was wondering why he was so tired until he remembered that he had been out until the early morning with Eve. She was like no one else he had ever met...so carefree one moment, then cold and hard-bitten the next. She sure was cute though...Trunks perished the thought. There was no time for that now. His mind would once again have to focus on training.
The Saiyan Prince and his son actually made it to the training room ahead of Goku and Gohan, who along with Chi-Chi ended up on the wrong side of the ship. Once again, he used his instant transmission to get where he needed to be. Piccolo and the others were all gathered there, with the exception of Eve, who no one seemed to notice was absent. Sabre entered last, through a door that blended seamlessly with the wall.
"Alright. I'm glad everyone is here on time. Take a look around you." Sabre gestured a sweeping motion with his arm.
All of the walls were lined with solid white paneling, as was the floor. At various points on the ceiling, floor, and walls were tiny, shielded cameras, which connected to a control room where the action inside could be safely viewed. At certain points in the chamber were what looked to be hatches from which various devices could enter. While not as intimidating as the time chamber in the Lookout, the room seemed pretty formidable.
Sabre gave them an overview of what the room was capable of.
"Due to the fact that we're onboard a ship, this room can only supply up to 750 times Earth gravity." Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien began to look doubtful. "Any more than that would implode the ship. Temperatures can be raised up to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit or lowered to 1200 below zero. I would suggest that you do not power down in those extreme temperatures, unless you want to burst into flames or freeze solid." The humans looked sick. "The walls are layered with energy dissipating crosshatching, so don't worry about stray blasts. You do have to worry about cracking them with stray blows, though. This room is equipped with automated weapons identical to the ones you'll come into contact with while we are in battle. The Saiyans will go up against them first so I can gauge their strengths."
"What do we do during all this?" Bulma asked.
"You, Chi-Chi and the rest can watch the action from the control room." "Shall we begin now?"
"Yes, please, could we?" Vegeta asked sarcastically.
Sabre ignored his comment. "To get to the control room, go through the door I came out and climb up the ladder at the end of the corridor."
The non-participants made their way out, the door integrating itself seamlessly back into the wall. Upon entering the control room, the group was directed to a large viewing console that had a primary video feed into the training room. The control room itself was operated by two crew members, both seated at a large workstation displaying multiple video feeds and digital readouts.
Back in the chamber, Sabre directed the action. "Okay, all of you line up, arm's length apart."
The Saiyajin's did as they were told, each wondering what was going to happen next.
"Now, I want to watch each of you power up to you max as fast as you can. Trunks, you go first."
The half-Saiyajin nodded his head and got into position. He pulled his arms into his sides, looked down, and began to focus his energy. The air around him began to become distorted with the heat from his energy. His hair began to dance around his shoulders, then, in a burst of energy, flashed gold. Simultaneously, his eyes turned turquoise and his muscles inflated with power. His hair became spiked and stood out from his head like needles. His muscles continued to inflate until they were almost twice their normal size. When he finished he spoke.
"This is as strong as I can get before I start to lose speed."
"Alright, Vegeta, your turn."
Normally, Vegeta would have made some cocky remark about what a true Saiyan's power looked like, but he said nothing now that Gohan had ascended to a new level.
Vegeta took about half the time to power up, simply crossing his arms in the process. His normally small frame was pumped to its max, his jet black hair now the color of a super-Sayjin.
"Happy now? I don't know what you are trying to prove."
"You'll see. Goku, you're up."
Goku put on his cocky smile. He crossed his arms in front of his head and powered up. Since he was already a super-Sayjin, the only noticeable differences were his muscle's slight increase in size. However, his ki skyrocketed, and Sabre felt that his power was a good bit greater than that of Trunks or Vegeta. They felt this too, but said nothing.
"Alright kid, show me what you got."
Gohan nodded his head and began his charge up. His stance was identical to that of Goku's. Sabre noted that even though this boy was extremely powerful, he was still only a child. He was still attached to his father, and looked up to him for guidance.
The boy continued his power up, and soon blue streaks of electricity began to dance around him. Eventually, they began to crawl over his body as he ascended to SSJ2. Goku looked on at his son with pride, knowing that the power next to him was of his own blood. Trunks saw the look in Goku's eyes and wished his father could express the same sentiment. He didn't understand why he was so cold...
Gohan finished charging and stood before the human with a smile on his face.
"Not bad, kid. You guys as a group are pretty impressive. But, with the exception of Gohan, you're all still weaker than my former team. You still need a lot of work to reach my level. I'm not too worried, though; I know how much you Saiyans love a challenge."
Vegeta, being blunt as usual, lashed out.
"What do you know about us Saiyans? How can you pretend to even begin to understand our race?"
Sabre glared at Vegeta. "I probably know more about your race than you do. I have grown up around Saiyans my entire life. And I'm used to your attitude. Now," he said, without slowing down, "what you'll be exposed to here is a full-scale live-fire exercise.
"What?" Goku asked.
"I want to see how you react to being shot at. Don't underestimate these weapons. They are like nothing you've ever encountered before." When he finished speaking he left the glowing Saiyans and proceeded to the control room. Once there, the operators pressed a series of buttons. The lights in the chamber dimmed and the sound of mechanical lifts and hydraulic pumps could be heard. Simultaneously, panels all over the wall pushed forward and slid to the side, revealing a variety of weapons.
Back in the control room, the crewmen pressed a few more buttons and a warning claxon sounded, signaling that the weapons were armed and ready to fire. In front of the operator's control screens were wire frame representations of the four Saiyans in the chamber. On each of the screens were the vital signs of the combatants. Currently, all of the wire frames were green. A switch was toggled, sending the weapons into free-fire mode.
Back in the chamber the four warriors looked around at the firepower aimed at them, each slipping into a fighting stance with only mild concern. Each piece of ordinance locked on to a target and began to fire. The room was filled with the metallic sound of weapons fire and illuminated with the flash of automatic guns.
"Hah, what does this fool think he's doing? These pathetic weapons won't-" Vegeta's gloating was cut short when a cannon shell exploded behind him, sending shrapnel into his back and knocking him to his knees. Various energy weapons began tracking the fighters, spraying glowing balls of energy with deadly accuracy at their targets. Trunks was cut down by a volley from a heavy plasma machine gun, the bullets penetrating his ki shield and hitting him with such concussive force as to render him unconscious. A shot from a railgun put a four-inch hole through Vegeta's chest, just below his collar bone, causing him to flail about on the floor, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. Goku did his best to evade the maelstrom of fire but was hit anyway when an anti-matter grenade exploded directly in front of him, blinding him and shredding his face up pretty badly. His agonizing pain was cut short when a maser blast knocked him into merciful unconsciousness. Gohan simply stood still as the weapons deflected harmlessly off the energy shield he erected. When he saw his father go down he flew over to his aid. At the far end of the chamber, a beam cannon had finished its charge and locked on to the only remaining target.
Back in the control room, everyone was shocked to see three of the Saiyans go down in a matter of seconds. Chi-Chi had already fainted, and even 18 was surprised at the viciousness of the action. All of the spectators focused on the last Super Saiyan. Gohan was kneeling over his father when he looked up to see a huge red beam barreling at him. He braced to block it, but was ripped off his feet when the blast impacted. He was engulfed in the energy wave and thrust into the wall with enough force to crack the reinforced tile. The beam continued firing, pinning Gohan to the wall. All of the weapons in the room now locked onto the immobilized Gohan and added their volleys to the blast. When the beam weapon's fire dissipated, it was replaced with the din of pulse, plasma, and recoilless rifles, heavy machine guns, plasma cannons, masers, railguns and anti-matter grenades.
The guns in the chamber were linked up to the control room's scanners and ceased fire when Gohan's wire frame representation went red. There being no targets left, the weapons pulled back into their concealed positions. Sabre punched up a command on a keyboard and quickly moved to the chamber. He took stock of the fallen warriors and found them to be in pretty bad shape. Trunks had been knocked clean out. Vegeta was bleeding profusely from the hole in his chest, all the while cursing and writhing in agony. Goku had severe burns on his body from the maser beam, and his face was mangled to a pulp. His son's broken body was at the near end of the chamber. All had lost their golden auras. The room itself was hardly scratched; the reflective materials had worked perfectly. Only the cracked panel Gohan had hit was damaged.
Sabre shook his head at the ease with which the Sayjins had gone down. "They may be excellent fighters, but they were never trained to take weapons seriously," he thought. He reached into his pocket and removed four pills from a container. He dispensed one to each of the Saiyans, returning them to full health. They regained consciousness immediately and stood up, shocked at what had just happened.
"I told you. It's going to be dangerous. You have much training to do before I can put you in the field."
"Gosh, I never thought that those things would be so strong." Gohan said, rubbing his head.
"I'm surprised you held up as well as you did. These weapons were at full power, so it should not be too long before you learn how to effectively counter them. I used this as a demonstration to the others. You won't train with the systems at full power again for quite some time."
"Guns are for cowards," Vegeta snarled as he got up from the ground.
"That may be so, but then what does make you, being so easily beaten by them?"
"I will not be talked down to by some mere human!" Vegeta roared. "I am the Prince of all Saiyans!"
"No Vegeta, not all Saiyans. There hasn't been Saiyan royalty in the Tycho system for over seven hundred years."
Vegeta was boiling with rage.
Before he exploded again, Sabre said, "Look, you can vent all your anger on Goku in the sparring session, we're doing that next."
Goku laughed. "Uh oh. I know how Vegeta gets when he's angry."
"Shut up, Kakkarot! I'll crush you!" Vegeta stormed over to Goku, who held up his hands with a genial smile and backed away.
Sabre came between them. "Not quite yet, Vegeta. Let's wait for the others." He turned to one of the cameras. "Send them on down."
A few moments later, the rest of the warriors tentatively entered the training room, the humans glancing about nervously at the points where the weapons had retracted.
Sabre noticed this. "Don't worry, they're off."
"Great," Yamcha said nervously.
"I know...this looks bad. But we wouldn't have selected you if we didn't think you could handle it. Any of you." Jake looked at Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien.
"Now, this is going to be a free-form sparring session, only I don't want any one here to transform. The scientists back home have figured out whenever a species transforms, their base power is exponentially increased. Now, while training in this state does increase your power, training in your base forms is more efficient, up to a point, and yields better results. None of you are at that point yet. Therefore, we'll all be training more or less at the same level.
Krillin spoke up and said, with false bravado, "Sounds good. When do we get to start?"
Goku took note of Krillin's eagerness.
"Now, if you all are ready. Everyone, grab a partner. I'll take the odd man out."
Vegeta turned to his rival, poking his finger in the taller Sayiain's chest. "Kakkarot, you and I will fight!"
"Sure Vegeta, whatever you want," Goku said with his usual cocky grin.
"Uh, Piccolo, would you mind if we trained together?" Gohan asked timidly.
"Sure kid, it'll be just like old times," the Namek replied. Gohan's face lit up.
"Hey, Yamcha, you wanna give it a go?" Tien proposed.
Yamcha was having serious doubts about the whole situation, but was in too far to back out now. "Yeah, I guess."
"Uh, Krillin, I guess that leaves you and me," Trunks said. He didn't even consider Android 18. He wasn't sure if he would be able to hold back and not kill her during training. She just looked so much like the other one...
Krillin looked almost depressed for a moment, but perked up. "Sure man, I've always wanted to see how I'd measure up to one of you guys!" he said, referring to the Saiyans.
Sabre stared at 18, who stood singularly alone. The android stared back.
The human sighed, "I guess that means you and I are together."
18 wasn't sure what he meant by that. "Whatever."
"Everyone, pick a spot and start up. I won't interfere with any of your training until later today. I just want to see what you all can do." With that, Sabre motioned to 18 to come over to him.
He gave a thumbs-up sign to one of the cameras. In a few moments, the entire room was filled with a fast-paced synthesized beat which all found to be rather pleasant, if strange. Each pair took up various positions in the mammoth chamber, some in the air, and some on the ground. It made no difference, though; in time, they would be all over both. Everyone stretched first, knowing that was perhaps the most vital component of their warm-ups. A pulled muscle in the middle of an intense training session could lead to big problems.
18 walked up to Sabre when he finished his stretching. "How do you want to do this?"
"Do what you will. I'll keep up with you."
"Fine," she said flatly.
All around the room similar exchanges were occurring, albeit in a more friendly matter. Except, of course, for Vegeta.
"You may be stronger than me as a Super Saiyan, but now we are equals. Oh, Kakkarot, how I will enjoy making you bleed!" Vegeta said maliciously.
"Hey c'mon, let's try and keep this clean, okay?"
"Ha! I will fight however I see fit, Kakkarot! Now defend yourself!" Vegeta flew at Goku. They soon disappeared in a blur of punches and kicks and the rest of the group took this as the signal to commence their sparring. The room became filled with the sounds of combat as punches, kicks, and ki blasts were heard being blocked and deflected. No one was foolish enough to start their training at full power, but as time wore on the ki blasts became bigger and the blows were striking harder.
Krillin was quite pleased with himself because he was able to keep up with Trunks. The Saiyans had spent most of their time training as Super Saiyans, so their base power levels were comparable to the rest of the fighters.
"Man," Krillin thought as he deflected Trunks's kick with his forearm, "this is just like old times. Well, almost like old times," as he remembered he was fighting with a boy from the future. Trunks managed to catch him off guard and landed a punch square into Krillin's gut. Krillin doubled over for a moment but quickly recovered and responded with a kick to Trunks's head.
In Tien and Yamcha's sparring match, Tien clearly held the upper hand. He was taking the training just as seriously as ever. Yamcha had to spend all of his energy just trying to evade and block his opponent's blows.
"Hey, man, would you tone it down a little?" Yamcha asked.
"How about you turn it up," was Tien's terse reply as his uppercut sent Yamcha straight into the air.
"Aw, man," Yamcha thought, "why did I have to go with Tien? I should have gone with Krillin..." his train of thought was lost when Tien's knee struck his head.
Gohan was having an immense amount of fun while fighting with Piccolo, and Piccolo, while he would never admit it, was enjoying it as well. The two had developed a bond that was as close as Piccolo could ever come to love.
"Hey Piccolo," Gohan yelled, "watch this!" Piccolo watched in amazement as Gohan placed two fingers on his head and smiled. "Makkankosappo!" ("Demon Hell Screw," or in the American, the Special Beam Cannon) his high pitched voice cried as the corkscrew beam shot from his fingers.
Piccolo countered and destroyed the blast with one of his own, but was shocked that the boy had learned it at all. "Where did you learn to do that, kid?"
"I learned it from you, Piccolo!" Gohan said excitedly. "When dad and I were training in the Room of Spirit and Time I'd figured I would try and learn it. It took me a while, but I got it down! What d'ya think?"
"I think you shouldn't let your guard down," Piccolo said as he drove his elbow into Gohan's gut.
Goku and Vegeta were the two who were going at it the hardest and had exchanged few words. Goku realized that Vegeta was as strong, if not stronger than him in their regular forms. And Vegeta was fully taking advantage of that fact.
"Whoa Vegeta, what are you trying to do, kill me?" Goku asked as he narrowly avoided a blow to the back of the neck from his sparring partner.
"Quit your whining, Kakkarot! If you can't handle training with me, why don't you go train with the cueball." Vegeta taunted.
Krillin heard this and looked at Vegeta with an annoyance.
"Go back to training with the boy," Vegeta commanded with a smug expression.
Krillin mumbled something indistinctly as he returned to his match.
"Hey Vegeta!" Goku cried as he shot towards him. Vegeta prepared to block but was left confused for a moment as Goku seemingly passed through him. Suddenly he came from above and landed a strong kick to the side of his head, sending the Saiyan prince tumbling to the ground.
"See what happens when you get arrogant? Jeez Vegeta, I thought you would have learned by now," Goku said with a chuckle.
Vegeta pulled himself off the floor and wiped a small trickle of blood from his lip. He looked at the third class Saiyan with his usual mixture of rage and respect. Wordlessly, they launched themselves at each other and continued their fight.
Jake was keeping tabs on all the fighters as best he could. 18 wasn't making things easy for him, so he would occasionally lose track of them. He had come to realize that while this group had fought together numerous times in the past, they were hardly a unified team. Most of the humans harbored a resentment of their Saiyan friends and often underestimated their own abilities. Vegeta was a major source of tension in the group, as he was clearly not a team player. And Goku, their de facto leader, had the tendency of being much too merciful.
"Well, I guess this is the best we can do," Jake thought to himself. The back of 18's fist nearly slammed into his face, forcing him to return to the matter at hand. The android was really a fascinating creation. It had taken the Coalition nearly two hundred years to perfect their own artificial intelligences, and a hundred more trying to give them decent corporeal forms, yet this Dr. Gero had managed to do it in the span of his own lifetime. If he had not known any better, he could have sworn she was human, and that in itself was surprising. Most of the Coalition's androids had distinct traits that could identify them as such, but this Android 18 might as well have been completely organic.
She seemed to have genuine emotions, her own personality, her own will. He wondered if she even thought of herself as being any different from the others. He couldn't get a read off her.
"So, 18, what do you think of this whole situation so far?" Jake asked while sending a flurry of blows at her.
She deflected them and responded. "What I want to know is your real name."
Jake wasn't expecting that. "My name?"
"Yes, your real name. I was looking through the ship's database and it turns out your real name is classified."
"What was she doing looking through the ships databanks?" he wondered. "Oh. She is an android, and she must have easily figured out how to interact with the Dante's own AI."
"My name is none of your concern," he said as he parried a blow to his stomach.
"Well, then, mystery man, you want to know how I feel about this whole situation? I'll tell you," she said with an increasingly hostile tone.
"I was absorbed by that damn monster and thrown up when that boy defeated him. My friend 16 was destroyed and my brother was killed. Now, I am onboard a spaceship training with the very same people that are responsible for killing them to fight an enemy I didn't even know existed until today." As she spoke her attacks were becoming stronger and more accurate.
"She's feeding off her anger," he realized. "I didn't think that was possible for androids." He decided to try something. As 18 continued her furious attack, Jake began to gather some energy for a ki blast. As she swung back to deliver a right hook, he discharged his attack directly into her face. Temporarily blinded and stunned, she faltered a bit in the air. Jake wasted no time and knocked her to the ground with an overhead smash. He followed her to the floor and landed a stomp on her wrist. Hard.
After a sickening snap 18 screamed in agony. Jake lifted his foot in surprise as she rolled away and tucked her shattered hand under her other good arm. She got to her feet with a mixed look of pain and rage on her face.
"What the HELL did you do that for?!" she cried. By this time everyone had stopped their sparring and turned their attention to 18.
While inwardly Jake was surprised at her reaction, he didn't let it show.
"I had to test something," he evenly replied.
"And just what the hell are you testing?" Krillin asked, the anger clearly evident in his voice.
"She's not an android, exactly."
"What do you mean I'm not an android? I was created by Dr. Gero in a laboratory. What do you think that makes me?"
"No, your friend 16 was an android. Your brother wasn't and neither are you. You're a cyborg."
"So, what does that mean?" Krillin asked.
"Nothing, really, I thought she was far too advanced to be a simple machine, and I was right." Everyone was glaring at him now. "This doesn't concern you. Just go back to training."
No one moved.
Jake realized they really didn't like him. Fortunately, Goku spoke up and relived the tension. "C'mon guys, you heard him, let's get back to it. Besides, I still have to show Vegeta the thirty different ways I can beat him."
Vegeta immediately responded to the taunt. "Kakkarot, I will crush you!" he roared as he flew at his nemesis. The others decided it was best to go back to sparring; they didn't want to get too much into this new guy's business, not when he could kill them all without even trying.
18 still glared at him. "This really hurts, you know."
"You'll be fine. I just wanted to know if you could feel pain. Androids don't feel anything. They may have a programmed response to a broken bone or a stubbed toe, but they merely do that to blend in."
"Well how do you know that my pain isn't simply an automated response?"
"Because nothing else about you is automated. You are too 'human' to be a machine. There's more to you than silicon and neural connectors. Look at you, you're bleeding. Machines... androids...don't bleed."
True enough, 18 had a good bit of blood trickling down her arm from where a piece of her metal skeleton had punctured the skin.
"So why was it necessary to break my damn wrist?"
Jake thought about it. Why did he do that? Lately he had been thinking about his actions in the recent past, and not all of them had been logical or rational. A coldness had been slowly creeping over him, manifesting itself randomly, like back in that alley. And now it was happening here.
"...it wasn't." That was as much of an apology as he was ready to give. "Here, take one of these," he said, reaching into his pocket for another pill.
"Great, but what do I do about this?" She held up her bloodied arm and a few dangling wires were visible from where her metal skeleton had punctured her skin. Her hand hung limply from her wrist.
"Shit," he thought to himself. "Come with me." Jake then made a few hand gestures to a camera, and pointed to 18. He led her to the main entrance, where a crewman was waiting to take her to the machine shop.
Everyone immediately took notice of his absence and had stopped their training. Before anyone said anything he returned, albeit with out 18.
"Hey, where's 18?" Krillin asked.
"She's getting repaired. She'll be back here in a few minutes. Just go back to sparring. I'll watch you guys and get a gauge of your techniques and power, for now."
Despite the fact that it was very awkward for them to be told to go back to training like a bunch of kids, they did it, mostly out of fear. They had taken notice of what he had done to 18, including his response, and were now wavering in their resolution. This guy was potentially dangerous, but none of them could do anything to stop him.
No one let their disconcertion show. The group trained while Sabre watched their every move. He stood off in one corner of the room to view everyone at once. They were nearing their maximum power levels now, four hours into their training, and were focused intently on their respective duels. Piccolo clearly had the upper hand in his match with Gohan, as he was the strongest of them all in their current forms. Trunks had a small edge over Krillin in their fight, although Krillin was getting in some good hits. Tien was giving Yamcha a pretty bad whooping as the former bandit clearly wasn't putting his all into it. Goku and Vegeta were dead even, even though Vegeta's power was a good bit greater than his opponent. He was letting his anger control his technique, which made him sloppy. Every time he scored a good hit on Goku, he would relax a bit and wore an expression that gave away how he was clearly gloating to himself. And every time, Goku would come back and deliver a blow to knock Vegeta's ego into check.
Jake was making mental notes as to what each fighter needed to work on, and what techniques he could teach them to enhance their overall abilities. He was also interested in what they could teach him. They were using a variety of techniques and moves which were completely foreign to him. It would be to the Coalition's advantage to incorporate these styles. They would need everything they could use against the Necrons. He looked down at his watch to check the time when it felt like a brick hit him square in the jaw. He was lifted clear off the floor and sent skidding into the wall with a loud thud. Waves of pain made their way across his face, as did his expression of shock. He looked up to see 18 standing just next to where he had been, wearing a smirk on her face.
"Now, we're even."
Jake tried to respond but was stopped when a stabbing pain told him to reconsider. He wiped a good bit of blood from his jaw where his teeth cut his lips, feeling to make sure that his jaw wasn't dislocated. It wasn't, though it still hurt like hell. Jake shook his head and slowly got to his feet, still a bit dizzy. He looked at 18 and could see that Vrakan had managed to repair her arm perfectly; it was the same arm she struck him with.
"Ha! Look at that! The high and mighty 'super human' got beat by the android!" came Vegeta's grating voice. Now, more than ever, he really didn't want to hear it.
"Oh, great, I guess everyone saw that," Jake thought unhappily. His ego was hurting more than his jaw. It wasn't so much the fact that she had hit him, but that he hadn't even seen her coming. "You were sloppy Jake, you should have noticed her presence," he chided himself.
"That's funny Vegeta, I remember doing something similar to you, only you weren't able to stand up afterwards," 18 responded coldly.
"Are you challenging me, android? I'll break you like the cheap plastic toy you are!"
"Alright, that's enough!" Jake painfully shouted. He then turned to 18, rubbing his jaw. "So, we're even now?"
"Yes."
"You wanna' get back to where we left off?" he asked through a clenched jaw.
"Fine."
After this exchange everyone was subtly relieved. Now that 18 had returned the favor and Sabre hadn't gone berserk, they felt a little better. Maybe it was the fact that they were heading into the unknown that had them so nervous. But for now, they had gained back a little of the respect they had lost for the man.
The rest of the training session was uneventful. They trained for nearly 10 hours, and were surprised to find they were hardly tired or hungry. Jake explained that the air they were breathing was specially designed to increase oxygen levels in the blood, also mentioning the presence of micronutrients that slowly replenished the warrior's energy.
While everyone was training, Bulma and Chi-Chi decided to find something to keep themselves busy. Bulma pestered the crewmen she encountered about various technologies the Coalition used, and assimilated the knowledge at a remarkable rate. Chi-Chi found that she had a natural talent for mechanical and electrical engineering. While she had no understanding of the fundamental physics and science involved, she was able to understand how they worked together. Her attention to detail also came in handy.
When the training session finally ended, Jake headed to his quarters, just aft of the bridge. He was about to step into the shower when his comm. table lit up. The screen filled with the logo of the Galactic Coalition Special Operations Division, then with a series of warnings and official tags. He recognized the headers: it was from the GCS Acies, Resa's ship. Her face materialized on the screen.
"Colonel Devarro, we have a problem."