Kami watches as Krillin moves at high speed trying to find an opening in Tien's defense. He strikes from a new angle with every attack never repeating the same maneuver. A punch from the front, then a knee to the back. A chop from above, then a sweep down below.
All three of Tien's eyes constantly shift scanning the immediate area for where his opponent might appear next. The third eye on his forehead does not work in unison with the pair below. It always looks in the opposite direction to check the blind spots left by the other two. He blocks every attempted hit.
"That's enough," says Kami stopping the session. "Well done Krillin, you're movement speed has increased considerably over the past few weeks.
"And Tien, you too have made excellent progress towards your own personal goal of tracking fast enemies."
"Thank you, Kami," Tien says. "Ever since Goku outsped me after training with you, I've wanted to catch up to him. But I couldn't in terms of pure speed."
"Indeed," says Kami. "There is usually more than one way to counter the ability of someone else without trying to match or exceed them in that area. Recognizing what you can and cannot do is important for maximizing your own strengthens and minimizing your weaknesses in battle. With that in mind, Krillin."
The short warrior looks up from his hunched over position gasping for air.
"What have you learned while pursuing your requested self improvement?" Kami asks.
"Well," says Krillin with a deep breath every couple of words. "Moving really fast … requires a lot … of stamina … and Tien … hasn't spent very much … stopping my attacks."
"Precisely, which means the next step in your training for this goal will be to work on your endurance," says his instructor. "I'd also like to warn you now, that using a high speed tactic to overwhelm your enemy will always put you at risk of burning out before your opponent does. If you opt for this course of action, you will need to end the battle quickly. Now both of you take a break. We'll resume soon."
And with that, Kami walks over to the edge of his palace in the sky.
"So Krillin, how's that Taiyoken coming along," Tien asks.
"I've been practicing what you said, projecting my ki as light instead of force," says Krillin breathing a little lighter now. "But it's hard you know. I've never manipulated it that way before."
"It's definitely a little different, but if anyone can learn how to change the emission of their ki, it's you. You've always shown great aptitude for that kind of thing."
"Thanks Tien," says Krillin, "for taking the time to teach me. I'll let you know when I make more progress."
"Sure, but you know, I never asked why you wanted to learn it."
Krillin thinks for a moment.
"It just seems like a handy technique is all. Uh, good utility, you know? I've seen how much of an opening blinding your opponent gives from when you and Goku used it and thought that would be useful to do at some point."
"Of course," says Tien giving a smile.
Krillin saunters off while Tien watches after him.
Mr. Popo supervises another training session between Yamcha and Chiaotzu. The small, pale fighter who never seems to age runs laboriously along the ground in his weighted clothes. The scar-faced man chases after him struggling just as much to stay aloft a couple feet above the tiled floor in his heavy garments. Chiaotzu darts and dashes with slow starts and clumsy stops while Yamcha swerves about in the air with unresponsive turns to keep up.
Every time he reaches out to snag the little psychic, the childlike twenty year old takes off in a new direction leaving him swinging out in a wide turn to change his own course. The tantalizing prospect of almost actually catching his quarry who needs more and more time to build up momentum after every switch sends him speeding after it out of each banking turn. And each time he is about to grab the meek target, Chiaotzu changes directions again leading to the whole process starting over.
Mr. Popo watches this for some time until both his trainees begin to show signs of fatigue. It is clear to him that if given enough time, Yamcha would outlast Chiaotzu and catch him. Since that is not the point of the exercise, he always stops them before that point. But the sessions have been taking longer and longer showing improved stamina for both martial artists. Mr. Popo plays a few notes on a flute. The two pupils stop what they are doing and come over to him in their preferred methods, Yamcha walks and Chiaotzu levitates.
"Great job today, both of you," praises Mr. Popo. "Chiaotzu, you've been working very hard on the physical strength of your body and it's showing more and more every day."
"Thank you Mr. Popo," says Chiaotzu with a bow.
"And Yamcha, your control of flight has improved greatly since you got here. I'm sure you could fly from Korin Tower without any trouble now. You should be proud."
"Yeah, but I still can't change directions as quickly as everyone else can. I need to do better," Yamcha says clenching a fist.
"Movement is certainly important," agrees Mr. Popo, "but don't discount how much improvement you've made in ki control. When you first started, your ki usage was very inefficient when it came to flying. But the extra meditations you've been doing have reduced such waste dramatically. That deserves a congratulations."
"I guess, but throwing myself a participation party now won't help me against the Saiyans when they get here," chides Yamcha self loathingly. "Whatever, if we're taking a break, I'm going to call Bulma."
"Whew," exhales Bulma.
She leans back in her chair and bends over its frame stretching her arms high over her head. The position undoes the strain on her spine from hunching over her workstation. She has been staring through a magnifying glass mounted to the table as she dexterously soldered the last few component boards of her latest invention for several hours.
She gives her shoulders a massage until the phone rings. She presses a button on her nearby laptop opening a voice chat program.
"Hey Yamcha. Is everything okay?" she says. "You usually call at the end of the day."
"Yeah it's fine," returns his voice with a bit of static. Her laptop screen visualizes the auditory waves.
"You sound stressed out. Is training not going well today?" she says fishing for the source of his discontent.
"Oh it's fine I guess, just frustrating today," broods Yamcha. "How are things for you?"
"I'm glad you asked!" she says. "I've got good news that will cheer you up. Remember the strange device the alien wore that gave him readings of everyone's power levels?"
"Yeah."
"And remember how I said I was working on a project after I figured out how to translate it into our language?"
"Yeah."
"Well I just finished it, and I think it's going to help you guys with your training. We can use it to start recording your progress to make more informed decisions about what you guys should work on."
"Wow! Really? That's awesome Bulma," Yamcha says in better spirits. "How soon can you be out here?"
"I could be there tomorrow morning, if Kami lets me that is," she says. "I know you need to have special permission."
"No worries," says Yamcha. "I'm in the big green guy's favor, so I'll get you approved. I'll ask him right now and call you back at my usual time. How's that sound?"
"Perfect. I'll talk to you then," she says.
"Oh and how is the search for the Dragon Balls going?" he adds.
"Well I found the general coordinates for each of the six we don't have. Puar, Oolong, Ox King, and Upa are searching for the ones on land with the Dragon Radar. There was one in the ocean but Turtle said he was going after that one."
"What happened to Master Roshi?"
"Oh, he went to see his sister for some reason."
"You mean that old hag Fortune Teller Baba?"
"Yep that's the one."
"Huh, wonder what he's doing there?"
"Don't know," muses Bulma. "Anyway, I should get going."
"Yeah me too," says Yamcha. "It was great talking to you. I needed some good news. It really helped calm me down."
"Yep, no problem. Can't wait to hear back from you tonight," she says.
"You too," he says.
Boop. The call ends with the press of a button. Bulma smiles as she disconnects the call.
"Who was that sweetie?" asks Dr. Brief right behind her.
She starts in surprise.
"Geez dad! Don't sneak up on me like that," she says with her hand over her heart. It gives a few palpitations before settling. "I thought you were still on the other side of the lab with your telescope."
"Who was on the phone?" he repeats.
"It was just Yamcha. He's going to see if he can get me up to Kami's temple," Bulma says.
"You two have been talking a lot lately," says her father. "Weren't you really upset with him over something? Isn't that why you broke up with him?"
"Oh dad, it's nothing serious," she says. "We need to keep in touch to prepare for the Saiyans."
"Krillin's up there isn't he? You could contact him," he says.
"I guess. You know dad, you've been spending more time observing that red planet than working on the spaceship," she says redirecting the conversation. "How's your research going?"
"Unfortunately I haven't made much progress yet," he says despairingly. "How that machine propels itself or even reaches the speed necessary for practical space travel still eludes me. I'm worried it's damaged beyond the point of me being able to deduce how it's supposed to function."
"Well you're the smartest person in the world, so I know you'll figure it out," she says cheerfully. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to pack up some stuff for the trip."
Dr. Brief watches her as he takes a long drag on his cigarette before breathing it out. The hazy smoke rising into the air obscures his vision of her as she disappears through the main door to the lab.
"Dag nabbit woman! Can't you work any faster?" cries Master Roshi. "It's been three weeks already. The world is in danger and we've wasted three whole weeks."
"Oh I'm sorry, can you summon a spirit from the Other World faster than me?" yells back the haggard voice of his sister. "Because by all means, I'd love for you to show me how. You should be grateful I'm doing this for free and not charging you a proper fee."
"I didn't realize your old heart crusted over to the point that helping save the world is something you have a hard time doing without any monetary compensation," shouts the turtle hermit.
"Well how would you feel if a perverted old man showed up at your place, demanded free martial arts lessons, and then spent his every waking moment looking at adult magazines!" spits the fortune teller.
"Hey now! We may not have much time left, and we need to enjoy our hobbies to the fullest," says Master Roshi.
"Sure, while I do all the work," says Baba. "You've requested he come to the world of the living for quite a long time. Far more than is usually allowed for anyone. Do you have any idea how difficult it is getting approval for a normal summoning? This hasn't been easy you know."
"I know, I know," says Master Roshi. "And I wouldn't have asked if there were some other way. And because I know I haven't said it enough, thank you sis."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," she grumbles.
"So while we're still waiting for the powers that be to answer your spiritual call, are you able to read Earth's future?"
Baba turns to gaze into a crystal ball nearly as big as she is floating nearby. She waves her hands over it with ritualistic gestures causing it to glow in an eerie aura. She chants in a long dead language. When she finishes speaking, the orb turns black before returning to its usual clear white sheen.
"What does that mean?" he asks. "It didn't look good."
"Something is obscuring my reading of the future events related to the Saiyans," she says.
"Something?"
"Well predicting the future is a lot like predicting the weather," she says. "It's not an exact science. I can usually see the most likely outcome, but nothing ever happens exactly as forecast. Even then, yet to be occurrences can change drastically due to unforeseen reasons. And of course, the further into the future I try to see, the less accurate the prediction becomes."
"Great, but what does that mean for our planet when the Saiyans arrive?"
"It means I don't know," says Baba. She sighs. "It's like there's a coming storm blocking any attempt to see beyond it, so I can't get a reading for the Saiyans."
"What kind of storm!" says Roshi.
"One I can't tell if we make it through," she says forebodingly.
Before she can elaborate, Baba's crystal ball glows on its own accord.
"The Other World has made their decision," she says. "Hopefully it's one in our favor."