Chapter 17: Training 17

Part 1

I got to the islands area and found 17 already there waiting for me. I landed and walked up to him. We were both dressed as usual, me in my orange Gi, and 17 in his usual attire.

"You're early." He said.

"So are you." I replied, "So, exactly how strong would you like to become?"

"At least equal to Super Sayjin two." He replied.

Less than I thought he'd want, but I'm not complaining.

I looked around our surroundings and saw it was a great place for training. At closer examination I found a hole in one of the walls that was about my size. This was the same island I had fought Cell on, the first place I used my SSJ abilities for combat, not practice. The place where fate changed my life.

"I would like to get started sometime this year, if you don't mind." 17 said, bringing me back to the present.

"Right, then here are the rules."

"Rules?" he asked.

"If you want me to help you, then there are rules you must abide by, got it?" I snapped, "First, as long as you get your results, you won't tell anyone about Codie, as we agreed. And believe me, you'll get results with me as your teacher. Next, you won't tell anyone about the training, either. If I tell you to do something related to training, trust that I know what I'm talking about. When we spar, we go all out, no holding back, as though it were a real fight, but if I say stop, stop. I won't use my Angel Powers if you're thinking about that, only the power I need to train you."

"What else? Do you want me to call you sensei?" He asked sarcastically.

"Since you brought it up, then yes." his reaction was less than favorable, "Got it?"

"Yes, sensei." He sneered.

"Good, then I thought we'd start off our training today with a spar, to see where you are."

"Fine, then lets get started." 17 said, looking satisfied finally.

I powered up to SSJ, knowing from past experience that he was that far at least, and we charged.

17 and I connected fists with fists, and in doing so a boom echoed off our hit as we jumped back and began again. My knuckles were red, and the skin cracked a little, but no damage otherwise.

We charged again, and this time we didn't do the same thing. He brought his leg up and attempted an axe-kick mid-air, but I blocked and pushed him back. He started to throw a volley of energy blasts at me, and all I could do was block.

What's up with him? He's better than this, I know he is. Why isn't he going at me full on?

I deflected one blast and started dodging the attacks as I made my way closer to him. I got up to his face, and he stopped attacking, shocked.

"Come on, 17, you're better than this!" I kicked and used his chest to flip backwards, knocking him down and getting some distance. He got up furious.

"Power Blitz!" he shot the attack at me. I easily held it back with the back of my arm, and I pushed it back slowly.

He's stronger than this, why isn't he going at full power?

I threw his blast back behind me and took a moment to breathe. He lowered his arms, defeated.

"17?"

"I'm at full power and I can't even make a hit on you." in saying this I felt his power drop. He was powering down.

"Come on, we've only started, 17."

"Its no fucking use!" he snapped, staring right at me, "You damn Sayjins are lucky in your fighting abilities. You were born to do this, but what about humans? Even cyborgs like 18 and I are no comparison in power compared to your kind. It was only by chance that 18 and I were ever a match for you."

I powered down and walked over to him. He was angry, and his knuckles were white.

"It wasn't by chance, 17, it was power you had then."

"Yeah, and then Cell-"

"If Cell didn't come, you and your sister would have taken over the world." I said.

"What?"

"I probably shouldn't have said that, but since all of that is technically the past now, I guess it couldn't hurt to continue." I thought back to the world I had seen on the show, where Goku had died and I was left, "Mirai told me about his time, our Alternate Future. Goku died of the heart virus before Gero activated you. When you two were activated, you killed Vegeta, Tien, Piccolo, Yamcha, and Choazu quickly. Only Mirai, Gohan, and I remained alive. Killing Piccolo made Gohan transform, and killing Vegeta made me transform, but it still wasn't enough. The three of us fought you and your sister for 16 years, but we never made any progress. Finally you got bored with us, and you killed Gohan. I fought on, but you and 18 drove me to go kamikaze. It didn't work, unfortunately, and then Mirai transformed, but that still wasn't enough. That's why Mirai came to the past." As I explained all this, 17's expression went from extreme fury to calm astonishment.

"So, we really did all that? Goku and your husband were enough to stop us, but what about Cell?"

"I'm still confused on how he got here. Krillen and Mirai had destroyed an embryo in Gero's mountain base, but apparently Cell was in Gero's West City lab. When he matured, Mirai had already come back from the past and destroyed you and 18 in the future. History is written one day at a time, so his time hadn't changed yet. Cell hijacked the time machine and came here."

"A fluke in the time-space continuum?" 17 asked.

"Just like me." I said with a smirk.

"I see, so then why was Cell able to absorb me and 18 if we were that much stronger than him, as you say."

"He absorbed the Ki of hundreds of people first. Look, can we stop talking about Cell?"

"Huh? …Sure." He said, realizing the raw nerve he had been poking, "I don't want to talk about that freak anyway." he continued, covering his tracks.

It doesn't matter who people feel about Cell, I loved him. What does matter is how they'll treat Codie is 17 tells…

I flopped down onto the beach/grass and stared at the sky. 17 just watched me in skepticism.

"I think I know what your problem is." I said.

"What's that?"

"You care too much about power."

"What?" he asked in anger.

"It's not always bad, it helps Sayjins sometimes, but in humans, even cyborgs, it's different."

"I am not obsessed with power." 17 snapped.

"If you weren't, then why did you ask me to train you?" he didn't respond to that, "When a person is obsessed with power, their work falters. I should know, I've been there."

"During the Buu era?" he asked.

"Not just when I became Majin, but yeah, I was. I wanted power, and Babi-Dee was able to feed that to my dark-side. A wise man once said: fear leads to anger, anger leads to hatred, and hatred leads to the dark-side."

"And who was it?" 17 asked.

"Never mind who, it was true nonetheless. You need to take your mind off the power so much, think of other things. Do other things. You also exhaust you power too quickly, and you can't build up any stamina that way."

"So what do you suggest, sensei?" that time he sounded like he meant it. I sat up to face him.

"Have fun."

"What?"

"Fun, F-U-N. Don't worry so much about winning. I also think you need to connect to your human side more so than you robotic side."

"And what do you mean by that?" he asked.

"Come here, sit by me." I patted the ground in front of me, but he didn't move, "I won't bite, I promise."

He came over and sat in front of me.

"Now what?"

"Have some patience, 17. You're so serious. Now, make a Ki ball."

"What?"

"You heard me, make a Ki ball." I repeated. He started making one, quick and easy. He held it out like no big deal. I smacked his hand away, and he dropped the Ki.

"Hey! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his hand.

"You made a Ki ball from here-" I patted the top of his head, "-Not here." I put my hand on his chest.

"What's the difference?"

"A lot. If you don't connect to your body, then you'll always fail as a warrior."

"Whatever-"

"Don't whatever me, I know what I'm talking about. I have a story for you."

"Oh great-"

"When I was on Namek, I fought a warrior called Captain Ginyu. His special ability was body swapping. He switched bodies with Goku, who was much stronger. Ginyu tried to fight Gohan, Vegeta, Krillen, and me, but he couldn't, and that was because he didn't have union with his new body. In truth, Krillen was much stronger than Ginyu while he was in Goku's body."

"Really?" 17 seemed impressed.

"Yes, now try again, using your chakras, not you mechanical parts."

"I… don't think I know how." He replied.

I spent the rest of that afternoon teaching him how to make a Ki ball, and in reminiscence it was kind of funny, teaching such a powerful warrior how to make Ki balls.