Chapter 2: Mission Accepted??...Maybe
Joel
We reappeared off to her right and, assuming our fighting stances, began circling her. We were dog-tired and half our energy was spent.
"I thought Jin and I were the strongest students in the academy," I said, still moving.
"Don't be so damn conceited!!" she cried, "you guys aren't the only ones who train hard!!" I jumped her just then, sending an onslaught of blows at her. Jeran blocked them all and sent me soaring with a sidekick to my cheek. I landed on a table a few metres away. I did a cat's spring up to my feet and flew at her again only to collide with Jin's limp body as Jeran foiled his attack and threw him my way. The both of us crashed into a few more tables and almost immediately we were at her again. Jin attacked from the ground and I attacked from the air. Jeran hovered backwards, using her feet to block Jin's punches and she merely shifted her shoulders and her head to dodge my airborne attacks. She folded her arms and just continued blocking and evading our attacks this way until Jin and I grew tired. We stopped our assault and drew back, the both of us breathing heavily. "Well boys, let me share a little secret with you," said Jeran as she activated her scouter, "Joel, you have a powerlevel of 440, and Jin, you're 460. That's powerful, but I have a powerlevel of 900!!"
Jin and I stared at her for a second until we couldn't hold it in any longer. Though Jin tried desperately to fight it, we both burst out laughing hysterically. This seemed to unnerve Jeran somewhat.
"W-w-what's so funny?" she queried, landing in front of us. I gave her a grin and shrugged.
"You know you sure had us fooled. The way you acted made me think that you were smart," I said, "now I know that you really aren't."
"What did you say!?" she shouted. Jin folded his arms and turned away in boredom.
"If you were smart then you would know that a true fighter never starts a battle at full power. Piss off, girl, you're interrupting us...if that's the best you can do," he said dryly. She gasped in surprise when the both of us let our auras encompass our bodies where we stood.
"I think you should check your scouter again babe," I told her. Jeran did just that and gasped yet again.
"How...how is this possible!!?" she cried, "I was sure that I had trained hard enough!" Jin, with his arms still folded, turned once again to face her.
"You're out of your league here. Leave before you get hurt," he said with no real tone in his voice. The blonde tore her scouter off in a fit of rage.
"I can beat you! You're both still weaker than I am!" she shrieked. She flew in at top speed and her fist smashed into the floor on which Jin had been standing only a few seconds before. I reappeared right in front of her and swung my foot at her. It only sliced air as she blurred out of the path of my attack. She reappeared off to my left and sent a punch at me, which I evaded by zanzokening as well. Jin's boot collided with Jeran's chin as he suddenly appeared in front of her. My fist was formally introduced with her stomach as I reappeared to take advantage of her recovery. My blow sent her flying, headfirst, into the reinforced titanium foundation in the walls.
Jeran fell to the ground like she had an anvil tied to her feet. I glanced across at Jin. His arms were covered entirely with bruises, as was his partially covered torso. Blood flowed from his lips and a deep cut on his cheek. Sweat covered every visible part of his body. He caught my glance and turned away.
"How...how can this be!?" came Jeran, softly. She took a while to get up and when she did she staggered to keep her balance. She probably felt the way Jin and I looked because she seemed pretty out of it. Suddenly, moving very quickly, she leapt into the air and assumed an attack pose, cupping her hands.
"Ebonblast!!" shouted Jeran, letting her beam loose.
"Let me handle this..." I instructed, assuming my own attack pose, "Kamehameha!!!" My blue beam collided with Jeran's and they both fought against each other. Jin took a step back and watched the light display. I pushed with all my might and soon I realized that I couldn't keep it up. I had drained too much of my energy against Jin. I tried to fight it but Jeran soon gained the upper hand.
"Makou-sen!!!" yelled Jin, going into his attack pose beside me. He stretched his arms forward and then rotated them until hands came into a cupped position. Finally he whipped his hands at Jeran, letting the attack loose. The effect was devastating, for Jeran. Jin's green beam merged with mine and, together, they cut through Jeran's like a hot knife through butter. The scouter that our opponent had discarded earlier exploded from the raw power we now emitted. Jeran shrieked in fear when the blue-green beam was about to strike her.
Suddenly, the figure of a man appeared right in front of the blonde haired girl and smacked our beams out of the building, effortlessly. There was a huge explosion when it collided with some rather unfortunate bird in the sky. I stood up quickly and stared at Jeran's saviour, who now held her unconscious form as he descended slowly to the floor. He wore padded armor and had piercing gray eyes, which now stared at me with no emotion. He had long, red hair and his muscular frame was twice my own size.
"Headmaster Red!?" I gasped, as he landed a few feet away from us.
"I hope you two don't intend on attacking me as well," he stated, trying to revive Jeran, "I'll understand if Joel does, though, after all he is a Saiyan. However, he'll find that I'm not as easy as Jeran here." I wrapped my tail around my waist for the umpteenth time. The way he spoke, as if to himself, really freaked me out.
"I may be a Saiyan, but I'm not stupid," I said, almost to myself.
"Is she alright?" asked Jin. Red looked up at him.
"She'll be fine. She just fainted, is all," came the answer. He had succeeded in reviving Jeran and lifted her again. "However, you two might think you're alright, but get yourselves in the Rejuv tanks anyway. I want you well rested and in my office at 0800 hours tomorrow, understand?" We nodded in reply. Red nodded in acknowledgement and then zanzokened with Jeran in tow.
"Well Jin, seems like we'll have to postpone our fight...Jin?" I said, turning around only to find that he was already walking away in the other direction. "Hey Jin!!" He stopped and turned for a second. "Why'd you help me with handling Jeran's attack?"
Jin turned again and continued to walk away, saying, "Because if anyone's going to kill you...it'll be me." Several students hustled to stay out of his way; they feared and respected anyone who had the guts and the power to stand up to me. He wrapped the remains of his upper gi to cover his torso, but I had already seen the countless scars and stitches that tainted his muscular upper body. Most likely he had obtained those scars from his captors at the Cold Empire, but how did he escape? I had to give it to Jin. Despite the damage he had sustained during our fight he still showed no signs of fatigue. He had really grown into a great warrior and I was almost sorry that I would have to kill him eventually. Almost.
The next morning found the Jin, Jeran and I, in full academy uniform, inside the headmaster's office.
"Before anything is said, sir, I'd like to apologize for failing you, sir," said Jeran, lowering her gaze to the floor. Red took a long time to respond. He just stared at us. Finally he broke the silence.
"It's alright Jeran, but it should be me apologizing to you. I really didn't expect that you would be able to beat them at all, yet I still sent you. I humbly apologize," he said, causing the girl to gasp in surprise, "the reason I had you fight them was to get them to see how well they work together, instead of fighting all the time."
"So the tournament, my fight with Jin, and our fight with Jeran were all some sort of test?" I asked. The headmaster nodded.
"What could you possibly have hoped to gain with that idiotic plan? I still want to kill Joel," muttered Jin softly. Red rose from his seat and peered down at us.
"I have a high estimation of you three. You have so much potential, especially you Joel, and yet you waste it here at the academy," he said, causing all three of us to gasp, "Capsule Corps' headquarters has sent an invitation to all of it's academies in the universe. One gang, composed of thirty members, that's twenty fighters and ten subs, are required to take part in a tournament on Earth." Jin chuckled.
"Is that all?" Jin said, "That shouldn't be any problem. We'll just get some of our strongest members from each of our gangs and..."
"It's not that easy, Jin. You three are by far the most powerful students in this academy, but in comparison to all the fighters that are going to be at that tournament, you are pathetically weak," Red stated simply.
"Get to the point already..." I grumbled.
"My point is, Joel, that there's no way we can train that much students to that level in one year. We need to recruit fighters," he said.
"And that's where we come in, right?" asked Jin, staring out of the window, looking over the academy grounds. Red nodded.
"You three, plus myself, are already registered to compete in the tournament. I need you three to work together an recruit twenty six more fighters and meet me on Earth in one year for the competition," he continued.
"Sounds simple enough, just two things," I said, "who's in charge and which ship are we taking?"
"You'll be taking one of the research vessels. This particular one has enough space for the amount of fighters we need. It also has a large training area with the new gravity-training feature. There's enough food and supplies to last a year and a half. As for the leader..." he paused, and placed a scouter over his eye. He looked at me for a while, then at Jeran, and finally, at Jin. "The fighters at the tournament will probably be in the late tens of thousands or early hundred thousands. Joel is 2100, Jeran you're 980 and Jin is 1810," he stated. We could hear Jeran gulp when she heard our real powerlevels; Jin and I had only halved our powerlevels to take her out. "...Jin will be the leader," Red finished. Jeran and I couldn't believe our ears. Jin merely continued to gaze out the window with his arms folded.
"Say what!?" I yelled, "there is no way I'm taking orders from him!" Jeran nodded in agreement.
"These are my orders!! Or would you rather being expelled!?" barked Red. I remained silent, as did Jeran. "I thought so," said Red. Jin turned to face us now.
"Again, what do you hope to accomplish from this?" he asked. Red waved a hand impatiently to negate this question.
"Now you three take the rest of today to rest up and prepare yourselves. As of tomorrow you have a journey to start and a hell of a lot of training to do," he finished, "Jin, Joel you two are dismissed. Jeran, I have some things to talk to you about." And so, we left.
CHARACTERS RECRUITED INITIAL P/LVL
JERAN 980
SOUNDTRACK: SUFFOCATE by Spineshank
Joel
We reappeared off to her right and, assuming our fighting stances, began circling her. We were dog-tired and half our energy was spent.
"I thought Jin and I were the strongest students in the academy," I said, still moving.
"Don't be so damn conceited!!" she cried, "you guys aren't the only ones who train hard!!" I jumped her just then, sending an onslaught of blows at her. Jeran blocked them all and sent me soaring with a sidekick to my cheek. I landed on a table a few metres away. I did a cat's spring up to my feet and flew at her again only to collide with Jin's limp body as Jeran foiled his attack and threw him my way. The both of us crashed into a few more tables and almost immediately we were at her again. Jin attacked from the ground and I attacked from the air. Jeran hovered backwards, using her feet to block Jin's punches and she merely shifted her shoulders and her head to dodge my airborne attacks. She folded her arms and just continued blocking and evading our attacks this way until Jin and I grew tired. We stopped our assault and drew back, the both of us breathing heavily. "Well boys, let me share a little secret with you," said Jeran as she activated her scouter, "Joel, you have a powerlevel of 440, and Jin, you're 460. That's powerful, but I have a powerlevel of 900!!"
Jin and I stared at her for a second until we couldn't hold it in any longer. Though Jin tried desperately to fight it, we both burst out laughing hysterically. This seemed to unnerve Jeran somewhat.
"W-w-what's so funny?" she queried, landing in front of us. I gave her a grin and shrugged.
"You know you sure had us fooled. The way you acted made me think that you were smart," I said, "now I know that you really aren't."
"What did you say!?" she shouted. Jin folded his arms and turned away in boredom.
"If you were smart then you would know that a true fighter never starts a battle at full power. Piss off, girl, you're interrupting us...if that's the best you can do," he said dryly. She gasped in surprise when the both of us let our auras encompass our bodies where we stood.
"I think you should check your scouter again babe," I told her. Jeran did just that and gasped yet again.
"How...how is this possible!!?" she cried, "I was sure that I had trained hard enough!" Jin, with his arms still folded, turned once again to face her.
"You're out of your league here. Leave before you get hurt," he said with no real tone in his voice. The blonde tore her scouter off in a fit of rage.
"I can beat you! You're both still weaker than I am!" she shrieked. She flew in at top speed and her fist smashed into the floor on which Jin had been standing only a few seconds before. I reappeared right in front of her and swung my foot at her. It only sliced air as she blurred out of the path of my attack. She reappeared off to my left and sent a punch at me, which I evaded by zanzokening as well. Jin's boot collided with Jeran's chin as he suddenly appeared in front of her. My fist was formally introduced with her stomach as I reappeared to take advantage of her recovery. My blow sent her flying, headfirst, into the reinforced titanium foundation in the walls.
Jeran fell to the ground like she had an anvil tied to her feet. I glanced across at Jin. His arms were covered entirely with bruises, as was his partially covered torso. Blood flowed from his lips and a deep cut on his cheek. Sweat covered every visible part of his body. He caught my glance and turned away.
"How...how can this be!?" came Jeran, softly. She took a while to get up and when she did she staggered to keep her balance. She probably felt the way Jin and I looked because she seemed pretty out of it. Suddenly, moving very quickly, she leapt into the air and assumed an attack pose, cupping her hands.
"Ebonblast!!" shouted Jeran, letting her beam loose.
"Let me handle this..." I instructed, assuming my own attack pose, "Kamehameha!!!" My blue beam collided with Jeran's and they both fought against each other. Jin took a step back and watched the light display. I pushed with all my might and soon I realized that I couldn't keep it up. I had drained too much of my energy against Jin. I tried to fight it but Jeran soon gained the upper hand.
"Makou-sen!!!" yelled Jin, going into his attack pose beside me. He stretched his arms forward and then rotated them until hands came into a cupped position. Finally he whipped his hands at Jeran, letting the attack loose. The effect was devastating, for Jeran. Jin's green beam merged with mine and, together, they cut through Jeran's like a hot knife through butter. The scouter that our opponent had discarded earlier exploded from the raw power we now emitted. Jeran shrieked in fear when the blue-green beam was about to strike her.
Suddenly, the figure of a man appeared right in front of the blonde haired girl and smacked our beams out of the building, effortlessly. There was a huge explosion when it collided with some rather unfortunate bird in the sky. I stood up quickly and stared at Jeran's saviour, who now held her unconscious form as he descended slowly to the floor. He wore padded armor and had piercing gray eyes, which now stared at me with no emotion. He had long, red hair and his muscular frame was twice my own size.
"Headmaster Red!?" I gasped, as he landed a few feet away from us.
"I hope you two don't intend on attacking me as well," he stated, trying to revive Jeran, "I'll understand if Joel does, though, after all he is a Saiyan. However, he'll find that I'm not as easy as Jeran here." I wrapped my tail around my waist for the umpteenth time. The way he spoke, as if to himself, really freaked me out.
"I may be a Saiyan, but I'm not stupid," I said, almost to myself.
"Is she alright?" asked Jin. Red looked up at him.
"She'll be fine. She just fainted, is all," came the answer. He had succeeded in reviving Jeran and lifted her again. "However, you two might think you're alright, but get yourselves in the Rejuv tanks anyway. I want you well rested and in my office at 0800 hours tomorrow, understand?" We nodded in reply. Red nodded in acknowledgement and then zanzokened with Jeran in tow.
"Well Jin, seems like we'll have to postpone our fight...Jin?" I said, turning around only to find that he was already walking away in the other direction. "Hey Jin!!" He stopped and turned for a second. "Why'd you help me with handling Jeran's attack?"
Jin turned again and continued to walk away, saying, "Because if anyone's going to kill you...it'll be me." Several students hustled to stay out of his way; they feared and respected anyone who had the guts and the power to stand up to me. He wrapped the remains of his upper gi to cover his torso, but I had already seen the countless scars and stitches that tainted his muscular upper body. Most likely he had obtained those scars from his captors at the Cold Empire, but how did he escape? I had to give it to Jin. Despite the damage he had sustained during our fight he still showed no signs of fatigue. He had really grown into a great warrior and I was almost sorry that I would have to kill him eventually. Almost.
The next morning found the Jin, Jeran and I, in full academy uniform, inside the headmaster's office.
"Before anything is said, sir, I'd like to apologize for failing you, sir," said Jeran, lowering her gaze to the floor. Red took a long time to respond. He just stared at us. Finally he broke the silence.
"It's alright Jeran, but it should be me apologizing to you. I really didn't expect that you would be able to beat them at all, yet I still sent you. I humbly apologize," he said, causing the girl to gasp in surprise, "the reason I had you fight them was to get them to see how well they work together, instead of fighting all the time."
"So the tournament, my fight with Jin, and our fight with Jeran were all some sort of test?" I asked. The headmaster nodded.
"What could you possibly have hoped to gain with that idiotic plan? I still want to kill Joel," muttered Jin softly. Red rose from his seat and peered down at us.
"I have a high estimation of you three. You have so much potential, especially you Joel, and yet you waste it here at the academy," he said, causing all three of us to gasp, "Capsule Corps' headquarters has sent an invitation to all of it's academies in the universe. One gang, composed of thirty members, that's twenty fighters and ten subs, are required to take part in a tournament on Earth." Jin chuckled.
"Is that all?" Jin said, "That shouldn't be any problem. We'll just get some of our strongest members from each of our gangs and..."
"It's not that easy, Jin. You three are by far the most powerful students in this academy, but in comparison to all the fighters that are going to be at that tournament, you are pathetically weak," Red stated simply.
"Get to the point already..." I grumbled.
"My point is, Joel, that there's no way we can train that much students to that level in one year. We need to recruit fighters," he said.
"And that's where we come in, right?" asked Jin, staring out of the window, looking over the academy grounds. Red nodded.
"You three, plus myself, are already registered to compete in the tournament. I need you three to work together an recruit twenty six more fighters and meet me on Earth in one year for the competition," he continued.
"Sounds simple enough, just two things," I said, "who's in charge and which ship are we taking?"
"You'll be taking one of the research vessels. This particular one has enough space for the amount of fighters we need. It also has a large training area with the new gravity-training feature. There's enough food and supplies to last a year and a half. As for the leader..." he paused, and placed a scouter over his eye. He looked at me for a while, then at Jeran, and finally, at Jin. "The fighters at the tournament will probably be in the late tens of thousands or early hundred thousands. Joel is 2100, Jeran you're 980 and Jin is 1810," he stated. We could hear Jeran gulp when she heard our real powerlevels; Jin and I had only halved our powerlevels to take her out. "...Jin will be the leader," Red finished. Jeran and I couldn't believe our ears. Jin merely continued to gaze out the window with his arms folded.
"Say what!?" I yelled, "there is no way I'm taking orders from him!" Jeran nodded in agreement.
"These are my orders!! Or would you rather being expelled!?" barked Red. I remained silent, as did Jeran. "I thought so," said Red. Jin turned to face us now.
"Again, what do you hope to accomplish from this?" he asked. Red waved a hand impatiently to negate this question.
"Now you three take the rest of today to rest up and prepare yourselves. As of tomorrow you have a journey to start and a hell of a lot of training to do," he finished, "Jin, Joel you two are dismissed. Jeran, I have some things to talk to you about." And so, we left.
CHARACTERS RECRUITED INITIAL P/LVL
JERAN 980
SOUNDTRACK: SUFFOCATE by Spineshank