I do not own Dbz.
Super Saiyan Aftermath
Chapter 8 A Whole New Cable
"For the rest of your time here, your new bed will be this." A strange wrinkled old man pointed to a bed of needles. "It will sharpen your mind and keep your skin tough."
"Sounds painful. I'm ready though." Cable said, seeing the look on the Kai's face. Cable's strength training had recently ended, although he still had to wear the weighted clothing. His days in the Spirit and Time Chamber had grown longer and longer. He only had four hours of sleep now. He was going strong, but he knew his breaking point couldn't be too far off.
"We still have four hours of training today. I have a special treat for you, a new fighter if you will." the Kai said, with a slight smirk. "I need one of your hairs. Hold still." He said as Cable squirmed. The Kai plucked the hair without a back glance.
"Ow! What did you need a hair for?!" Cable fumed, clearly not liking his hair pulled. How childish. This training should make him grow up a little bit. The Kai thought to himself. He walked over to a curtained room. As he stepped through the doorway, he closed the curtain.
"Be right back. Get ready, this fighter is just as strong as you. Also, no transforming." The Kai muttered through the door, barely audible over his work. "There. Cable, meet Cable!" The Kai said as he walked out, followed by a figure in classic Saiyan armor. As the figure walked up to Cable, its posture didn't change at all. It was a mirror image of Cable, except the eyes. They were dull and listless, not like the vibrant youthful eyes of Cable. The look-alike also showed no emotions, it was perfectly calm, its demeanor that of a baby.
"I don't know what to say."
"I do. Go!" With the last bark of a word, Cable instantly got into his combat stance. His left arm leading, not quite a fist, the small finger down, the ring slightly raised, the middle raised more and the pointer all the way up, although still bent. His right arm shot back, behind him, fingers in the same position, close to his head, facing his clone. Crouching low, Cable pushed off the ground with all his might, flying at his foe.
The clone merely pushed Cable's hands to the side as he flew at him. The clone then raised a knee into Cable's stomach, forcing him to double over. As his knees hit the ground, the clone kicked Cable's side and sent him flying.
"That should teach you to hold back. Stupid boy." The Kai said as Cable stopped his flying, slightly above the ground. He stood up and got back into his position. He slammed his hands together and let loose a multi-shot attack. The clone deflected and dodged several of the blasts. Cable counted on nothing less, flying forward, dodging his own blasts and swinging wildly at the clone's face. At that instant, the clone disappeared and reappeared below Cable, kicking him into the air. Cable caught himself, and dove downward. He fired a beam at the clone, but was surprised when the clone jumped at him launching its own attack. They clashed in the air. Cable thought the gravity would help, but was wrong.
The attack Cable launched was not that one of having been powered up. So in essence, was his undoing in this bout. The clone forced the beam back at him. Once it hit his hands, Cable was sent farther into the air, and arced down at an angle. He hit the ground, unable to get up anymore.
"You disappoint." The Kai said, instantly at his side. "You've yet to land a blow, yet you can't take what you can dish either. You have much work ahead of you. I'm going to heal you. This time, I want you to focus, know what your enemy is going to do before he does it, and figure a counter measure. Let go of your feelings and fight unattached. Only then are you ready to receive my special training, or even beat your clone." The Kai said, true to his word, healed Cable. "Go again. Let go."
"Gotcha!" Cable said as he flew to his opponent. Cable forced his stance lower than normal, focusing on all of his enemies weak points. He defends them well. How about a strong point? Cable thought. Cable flew forward, fist outward, aiming for his clone's face. At the last minute his fist opened up and grabbed its hand, putting his other fist in the clone's gut, sending it backwards. No look of surprise or pain crossed its face. As it flew backwards, Cable started to power an attack. He will be expecting an energy wave, not this. Cable thought as he forced his arms to glow with energy. He then closed his hands, starting with his pinky finger.
Cable flew at the clone, fists clenched at his sides. As he neared, the clone stopped its momentum and turned to fight Cable, who was within ten feet. The clone prepared to stop a melee attack, as Cable's right foot flew towards its face. It merely put up its right arm to stop the attack, about chest level. Cable saw this and spun in the air, forcing his left heel into his clone's head. The clone's head shot back, giving Cable time to land. Cable punched forward with one glowing hand, which was caught in the clone's hand. Cable then thrusted his other hand at it, which was also caught.
"Time to die." The clone grinned as Cable said this. Cable opened his fists, releasing the energy gathered into the clone's face, destroying it.
"Kai, I'm done." Cable said as he watched the headless heap hit the ground with a certain satisfaction.
"Yes, boy, you are. Good job. That was the first obstacle in your path. Next time it will be a transformed form of you, while you stay untransformed. Don't worry though, there is still much to learn before then. Such as how to fight." The Kai said.
"What's wrong with the way I fight?"
"For starters your stance. Your right arm is too far out. You crouch too low, slows you down. Keep your right arm at your chest. The open hands is good. Stand with your legs slightly wider than shoulder length. Like so." The Kai demonstrated his words. "Your focus was better the second time, although still not good enough, but your strategies are ingenious. After a few days of mental training, you should be able to figure out much of what a martial arts instructor would tell you. Change of plans, to be honest I didn't expect you to beat the clone. Tonight, and until you reach mental solace, you must position yourself on the pole over there." The Kai pointed to something the size of a flagpole, with an extremely sharp tip. At the ground around it, there were several other long sharp sticks. "With your finger. Form a ball of ki, no larger than the tip of the pole, and balance on it. You will stay there until your mind is cleared, and you get over the pain and the fatigue. You will be ready then. I will be watching, because if you fall, I will have to find another hero."
Cable floated to the top of the pole, unsure of what to do. He floated there for several minutes, focusing a ball so small. After trying quite a few times, he got it. He extended his free hand to the tip and lightly touched it. It sheared through the flesh on his finger in an instant. Sharp. He extended his pointer finger over it, and forced himself up. He got into a handstand position with the one finger.
"Think like a rock. Let nothingness envelop your thoughts. That is the hard part. Once you have done that, the learning can start." The Kai spoke to Cable, in a soothing, knowing voice.
Easy for him to say. How do you clear your mind? Pushing everything to the side. Cable sat atop the pole for hours, trying to be like a rock. Fatigue hit him hard, his concentration on the ball almost broke several times. He had been up there for hours, when finally, he reached the open nothingness. He became lax, his muscles relaxed, his face had a serene look on it. Now for the task at hand, fighting.
Cable sat on the pole for three days, not tiring a bit. The Kai was amazed, he had overcome another obstacle again with little difficulty. This is truly a man of legend. He may be the one to defeat the Legendary Evil. I still have time to pose the question in my mind. The Kai fell asleep, sitting with his legs crossed. A shadow loomed over the Kai suddenly. A man with no emotion stood over him. He slowly put a hand on the Kai's shoulder. With a sudden jolt, the Kai awoke.
"Well well, Cable you finished already. Good timing." He truly has no limits. He merely shrugs them off.
"I know. I'm ready to fight." Cable said, coldly.
"One more task." The Kai said as he pulled a hair from him. No noise was made from Cable. The Kai scurried off and made another clone. Minutes later, the clone came out the door first. It transformed as soon as it neared Cable. "Go!"
Cable got into a new position, the one the Kai taught him. The clone began an offensive. Launching punch after punch, not scoring a real hit. Cable ducked a punched, feinted a double kick with his handspring, flipping backwards. Rolling to his haunches he sprung towards the clone, turning on his side, he feinted another kick, forcing himself around and elbowed the clone in the jaw. The clone flew an extreme distance. Cable put his hands together, making a V shape, with his arms. Each of his fingers and thumbs began to glow. With a sigh, ten energy balls popped out, hovering around him.
The clone flew back with extreme speed. It tried to kick Cable, but an energy ball hit its gut and knocked it skyward. Another flew and hit him in the back, while one hit his face and another hit his knee. The energy balls kept pummeling him and slowly wearing him down.
He is extraordinary. He can control ten spirit balls. That means he has more mental control and he remembers his studies of the Z warriors. The spirit ball is a good attack, but not a finisher. I wonder what he is going to use. The Kai thought to himself. As if in answer, Cable brought all of the balls together and slammed them into the clone's front side.
"Kamehame" Cable said, bringing his arms together at his side. One, two, three...Now! "Ha!" Cable shouted after an unexpectedly long amount of time. The clone brought all its power to bear after hearing the chanting of his could-be doom. The clone forced the energy ball in front of him forward, straining. The white beam of power arced to the outside of the battle, racing back down and slamming into the clone's back. As the beam forced the clone into the ball, Cable forced the beam to stop, leaving the clone trapped in a 'Spirit Ball Ring'.
Cable brought the trapped clone to the Kai. "Defeated." Cable said, without emotion still. Good. the Kai thought.
"Not quite." The Kai pointed pointed to the struggling clone. The clone then ascended to the second level. Straining the ball to its limits, the clone still couldn't quite break it. Cable still seemed disinterested, holding the ball closed with his mind. The clone became a third level. The ball was starting to rip.
"Fine then." Cable said, bringing up his white aura, raising his power dramatically. "Ha!" Cable said, pointing his pointer finger at the clone. He fired several extremely concentrated blasts at his clone. Each pierced without slowing down. The clone slumped back, lifeless. Cable dissipated the ball.
"Very good performance. You can control ten spirit balls, your mental strength can go toe to toe with your third level, your focus is something I used to think you lacked, but now you are truly powerful. The final challenge I mentioned, defeating council."
"I am going to kill him."
"All right, first I'll heal you, then I'll take you there. By the way, Council has been killing his former high ranking officers. He has also been absorbing them. He now looks like this." The Kai said, holding up a crystal ball. What they saw was a very tall man, about eight and a half feet. His hair was golden, and spiked out in every direction except in front of him. He had a normal face now, Darle. He was extremely muscle built. His body was now fit and that of a warrior.
"He has no chance." with Cable's words, the Kai healed him. They left immediately after his power reached its peak. Appearing in front of Council, in the space station.
"So, hot-shot, you want to fight me?" Council said condescendingly.
"Fight you? No, I want to kill you."