The door shut, sealing away Majin Buu, Piccolo and the rest of the universe, and the sound caused Dende to jump and turn to stare at the door. Up until now, he had never realized what he was getting himself into. It had seemed like just another adventure with Gohan, but now the reality was starting to sink in.
He turned to look at the others. Goku was grinning like a little kid, Gohan was just as excited, but there was an underlying nervousness too, Vegeta had his eyes closed, and King Kai still looked ticked.
"Could have chosen any other Kai in the universe, but you had to choose me." The Kai continued to grumble under his breath.
"That's it," Vegeta said with finality, opening his eyes, "I was just keeping Majin Buu's energy reading in mind, and I've got a good comparison of what he's like to us. I want to make sure we come out of here with at least double the strength he had when we came in."
"Double!" Both the Namek and the Kai said.
"Yea," Goku jumped in, "Majin Buu is still absorbing people, so he's getting more powerful by the day. Plus we're going to need extra power because his endurance is so high. I must have blasted him apart a dozen times, and it didn't even phase him."
"Don't worry guy's," Gohan said, placing a hand on King Kais and Dende's shoulders, "this room is awesome. We'll get to that level in no time!"
"Five." Vegeta suddenly said.
"Are you trying to figure out how many fingers are on your hand again?" Goku asked the shorter Saiyan while hiding a smile behind his hand.
Vegeta turned to glare at Goku, then pointed to the beds. Two bunks and a single bed, "There are five beds."
"And there are five of us," Gohan said, "What's the problem?"
"Two are built close to the ground, the level that, say, a child and a short Kai could get into with ease." He turned to Dende, "How did you know who would be coming in here when you sent Popo in to make the extra beds?"
Dende smiled, the sort that a predator might wear, "I'm a guardian! Don't you think I'm smart enough to figure out who you guy's would take in?"
The others looked at the Guardian with a bit of shock, and all of them realized they might want to take the kid seriously after all.
Vegeta grinned and walked past the Namek to the training field. It hasn't changed, he thought, It's still blank, still white, and still as intimidating as hell.
Goku walked up beside him, "This isn't going to be fun," he said with dread lacing his voice.
"We're not here to have fun, Kakarot."
"Sure, I know that. I just wish it didn't have to be this way." He turned his head around, taking in the blankness of the room, "What do you think, a week?"
"Seven years should be enough," the prince said.
"So," Gohan said, walking up to the adults, "Where do we start?"
"Kakarot is going to teach us two things," Vegeta said, "Super Saiyan three and Instantaneous Movement."
"Sure. I'll teach you about the third level, but I think King Kai would have a better chance of teaching the Instantaneous Movement then I would."
"It's easy," King Kai said, walking towards them and shoving Goku out on to the field, "Go out a way's, and we'll see if we can get to you."
The tall Saiyan nodded and leaped into the air, taking off to the horizon.
"Now. You both know about energy," he said, turning to his two students, all thoughts of being dragged into this having been left behind. This was teaching; this was what he did. "Physical energy, the type used in attacks, and life energy, the type used to keep you alive. Gohan, make a blast."
The teen held out his hand and charged up a small blast, letting it sit in his hand.
"Now fire it off but only about ten meters away." King Kai said. Gohan let the blast go and stopped it when it was far enough away. "Good. Now, remember how this feels. You have a piece of your body completely detached from you. Now let it go."
Gohan's blast disappeared. Vegeta, not wanting to be left behind, fired his own blast and let it hang, the got rid of it.
King Kai looked at Vegeta's blast sail away, and then heard a yelp that sounded a lot like Goku. "You could have just made it disappear." The Kai scolded.
"What, and waist good energy?" He smirked.
The Kai sighed, "Instantaneous Movement is a lot like that, but you move your life energy out instead. If you quiet your mind, you will feel little strings attaching everything in the world. The trick is to place your life energy on one of those string, but don't place it too close to the object its connected to."
Dende watched in fascination.
Gohan placed two fingers to his forehead, and Vegeta was about to follow suit, when he realized it wasn't even necessary. Both of the students stood still for a while, and then Vegeta muttered, "Got it." He vanished.
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Goku was bored. It was all well and good that they wanted to learn this technique, but it sure was boring for him to be a target for their energy. Vegeta's blast had been fun to be hit with, but now he was really bored. He yawned and blinked several times. In the middle of one of his blinks, Vegeta appeared half a foot in front of him. Goku opened his eyes.
"Ah!" He fell back, with Vegeta following suit, "You're not supposed to get that close!"
"It's not like I wanted to!" the short man said, and jumped to his feet. "But that's all it took and you never told me how to do it all these years!"
"It's not like I've been alive for most of them!" He sighed, and lowered his voice, "I wonder what's taking Gohan so long? He should have gotten it by now if you've gotten it."
"He hasn't trained since Buu came around the first time. A Saiyan can lose a lot of fighting ability in that amount of time. We might be here for a while. Feel like fighting?"
"Always."
"Good. Super Saiyan three, please."
"What? But if I do that, you won't stand a chance!"
"That's not the point. If I go this whole time facing people who are just as strong as me, I'll never get stronger. I have to get used to fighting superior people."
Goku grinned. He knew how much it must have taken for Vegeta to say that. "Okay."
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Gohan was concentrating on his fathers' energy as much as possible, but he still couldn't keep his thoughts from wandering. Vegeta goes and does this like it's nothing, and here I am still struggling! He'll never let me live it down! He felt his cheek warm and stopped, lowering his hand. He fired off a second blast and held it in the air again. Feel it out. In order for it to be detached, I have to hold it by one of those strings King Kai told me about. He mentally probed the string and sent a small portion of his life energy through it.
"You're close," King Kai said, "Don't place your energy on the string. Move it to a point on the string further down. Feel the string between you and your father. Then just place your energy next to him."
Gohan looked at the Kai with envy. This was his first time meeting the man, and he already knew why he was made a Kai.
He turned back to face the direction his father had gone, and felt him out. There he is; there is the string of energy between us; just move my energy along and- Ah!
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Vegeta had flared up to an ascended Saiyan long ago and was giving it his all. But he was no match for Goku like this, the other hadn't even broken a sweat, and he was still keeping ahead of Vegeta.
Goku launched himself forward to the retreating Vegeta and threw a punch at the others face. Vegeta was only partially successful at dodging it, and while he was falling he saw his opening. Left armpit! Right under his attacking arm! Vegeta fired a blast that was more an annoyance to Goku then a threat, but it was enough to distract the other.
Vegeta finished falling away from the punch and arched his back so he landed on his hands and finally landed a kick in the others chest. Goku staggered back and Vegeta landed on his feet with a snarl, launching himself at the stronger being. I'll show you who is the better fighter! He drew back a fist, and then someone was suddenly between him and his opponent.
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The instant Gohan started to go into the Instantaneous Movement, he wondered why in the hell his dad would ever want to travel this way. At first he felt whole and unchanged. Then he felt like his body had turned into a rubber band that was being stretched between two points, and the two points were further then the rubber band was meant to stretch. Then it all snapped together again in a symphony of pain, disorientation, and excitement.
"Gohan-" His father began.
"Dad!" He cut him off, "I did it! I-"
And then Vegeta smashed into the back of Gohan and they all went down in a heap.
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After the Saiyans had sorted themselves out, they traveled back to King Kai at the landing.
"Good job, Gohan," The Kai said, "and you too, Vegeta. Any questions?"
"Yes," Vegeta said. He was leaning on a pillar with his arms crossed on what the team called "the patio." "Why are we limited to power levels and 'strings' that are only connected to us?"
The Kai let out a bark of laughter, "We've been perfecting this technique for millenniums, and we can't do that. If you think you can, then go ah-"
Vegeta vanished. King Kai looked in disbelief and then out to the training grounds. Vegeta stood in the middle of no were.
"I've been thinking about that too," Gohan said, "we can move our energy to a point between the two of us, but why not to a point somewhere else?" The teen closed his eyes and was suddenly out on the training grounds as well, far away from Vegeta.
"I don't believe it!" Goku stammered, "It took me three months to get that one down, and they go ahead and learn it in three minutes, and then improve it immediately!"
"It's not that hard," Vegeta said coming back to them, "the strings King Kai referred to are everywhere. Some are very slight, but they are there."
"All you have to do is find one," Gohan returned as well and gave his thoughts, "You can even feel them between molecules of air. Since we're all connected, we can move along them!"
Goku frowned and turned his thoughts inward, facing the training grounds. A second later he vanished and came out on the grounds, and then came back.
"That was easy!" he said, "Now that we have that, let's go for a spar!"
The three Saiyans nodded, then all vanished at the same time.
"Seven trillions years." King Kai muttered to himself, "We've been trying to do that for seven trillion years, and they do it in a minute!"
Dende sat on the edge of his bed, wondering what the heck was so surprising. They're super heroes. They can do anything!
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Goku lunged at Gohan, who in his mystic form was still the strongest one, even though he hasn't been training. Gohan smiled and brought his full attention to the Super Saiyan three, who smiled back.
"Now Vegeta!" Goku yelled.
"Final Flash!" Gohan turned just in time to catch the blast head on. He could feel the heat burning at his skin, clothes and hair. He quickly held up a hand and fired his own blast into the stream being released from Vegeta, making it break around the teen rather then slam into him more. Vegeta, not wanting to waste more energy, stopped the blast, and Gohan sighed in relief, only to get pounded by his father from the side.
He spun around and landed like a cat on all four and found Goku attacking Vegeta while Gohan was recovering. They both fired a blast at each other that combined into a large ball and went sailing out into the unknown. Gohan jumped to his feet and went after Vegeta, who spun around and hit him with the rapid-fire technique.
How did he catch me? Gohan thought, I'm still stronger then both of them. Yet they don't even seem to take me as a threat! He looked up and dodged his fathers' foot by a centimeter. He never even saw the other foot coming.
He had no idea how he got on his back, but he knew he was in a great amount of pain. He opened his eyes and found his father and Vegeta standing over him.
"What happened?"
"I hit you, that's what," Goku said, still a Super Saiyan three, "What's the matter with you, Gohan? Your fighting sense has completely vanished. You may have a greater power then both of us combined, but your fighting like a three year old!" Gohan stared at the ground and felt his cheeks go warm. "You just lunged around aiming anywhere and everywhere you thought might work! You still seem to remember what our attacks are, but you've forgotten we've had a year to change! Vegeta's fighting style is way different from before, and yet you were fighting the old Vegeta! Now. Stand up. You're going to do this again, and this time fight with us! Not how you think we are!"
Gohan stood up and glared at the two before him, wanting nothing more then to show them he really was the best here. He flew at his father then switched at the last second and attacked Vegeta.
"I could see that a mile off!" Vegeta claimed, and rolled to the side to dodge the punch, "Your stance betrayed you. Don't think about what you're going to do, or you'll let everyone know!" The Prince finished his spin and used the momentum to bring the back of his fist to the back of Gohan's head.
He staggered to one knee and then jumped straight into the air. Without warning his father was beside him. "What was this supposed to do? Are you wasting you energy jumping around when you should be fighting? You've forgotten everything you've learned!" Goku brought his knee up into his sons' stomach and then brought his elbow down on the others back.
Gohan hit the ground hard. He could feel his anger at this display of his incompetence rising. It shouldn't matter! He was the strongest! He should be able to take them on with no trouble!
He stood up and yelled, a scream that stripped his throat raw, bringing his power to his full potential. And then he was struck again.
He looked up, seeing his attacker had been Vegeta this time. "I don't suppose it has occurred to you that Buu might not allow you much time to power up. So you'd better learn to keep your eyes on who you're fighting while you do so."
"Gohan." Goku said, "You've forgotten everything that Piccolo and I taught you. Are all those years we spent training you gone to waste? It may seem like Vegeta and I are picking on you, but we know you can do so much better!"
"Don't apologize for him, Kakarot," Vegeta snarled, "I don't know why we brought him in here. If we didn't bring Piccolo in, we should have realized he would be the same. I say we kick him out and train just the two of us. He's just a waste of time."
I'll show you! Gohan flew at the Prince ad then vanished just before he came in contact. Vegeta looked surprised for a second then turned around and grabbed Gohan's fist just as it reappeared.
"Not bad," he said, his voice coming out hard as he resisted Gohan's strength, "But let's take this up a notch."
They both vanished. Goku looked up and followed the two by sensing their energy. At first, Vegeta still held the upper hand, but as Goku sensed it out, he was slowly being pushed back by the enraged Gohan. That's it Gohan, remember what we taught you.
Suddenly, Gohan landed a major hit on Vegeta and the Prince fell to the ground.
"About time," Vegeta muttered as he slowly sat up.
"See Gohan," Goku said, as he walked up to his panting son, "Everything you know is still there, you just have to remember what it's like. Also, you seem to be slow still. Don't think about your movements, we actually move faster then we can think, just let instinct take over."
Gohan, still breathing hard, looked between his father and Vegeta, who was back on his feet, "You did all that just to get me to remember my training?"
"Of course," Vegeta said, powering down, "Both Kakarot and I knew that in this year of peace, you've forgotten all about your fighting. It's not like riding a bike; you have to practice it everyday. Now. If you don't mind I'd like to continue fighting!" He quickly powered up and launched himself at Goku.
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Dende was bored. He wished he had brought a book to read or something, but their hadn't been much time for packing. Even if I manifested a book, I'd have to write out the whole thing in my mind, so I'd know the ending. He looked up and saw King Kai taking a nap. How can he be this relaxed! Buu has got to remember Goku and Vegeta! He's going to come and destroy us all! Dende sighed and looked up at the ceiling, and noticed the giant clock that showed the time it was outside. How many times is that clock going to go around before we can leave this place?
Dende knew that it wouldn't matter; time was almost irrelevant. Buu had escaped a year ago, and hadn't come to Earth, so the chances of him coming in the next few days were slim. Time is going to be measured by power levels, not by clocks. I could be in here for a decade.
He shivered. The Earth will be okay for the next ten days, but he didn't know if he'd be all right in here for ten years. This is too much! Ten years! I won't survive!
"Oh, will you shut up!" King Kai yelled, startling the young Namek.
"But I wasn't-"
"I can hear your thoughts!" The Kai sat up and glared at Dende, "It may seem like a long time, but we'll make it. The only thing we have to fear that will hurt us is something physical! It's a bloody room! It's not going to hurt us. Now, shut up and try to get some sleep. It'll help pass the time!" He rolled over.
Dende, shaken, lay down and tried to sleep.
King Kai waited until he heard the young mans breath was steady and sat up again, and looked at the Namek. It's not going to be easy kid. But if I hadn't stopped your train of thought where I did, it's a good chance you would have gone crazy. Cabin Fever kills more then anything, and I don't know how you're going to make it if you almost lose it on the first day. I just hope I can keep you from losing it for this time in here. The danger is real. This room is not forgiving, but if we stick together kid, I'm sure we can make it.