The two of us flew off to a place where nobody would be within 10 miles in any direction. It was a pretty big wasteland, hilly, but no life whatsoever apart from the grass and a few trees here and there.
"So, Cherik, how are we gonna do this?"
"I think the best training we're gonna get is to just spar with each other, we'll get our combat skills and our strength up pretty fast. Hell, after the tournament, my power level increased by 50 points."
"Wait, 50 points? what does that mean?"
"Oh, right, i've never told you." I set down my backpack and pulled out my scouter, now that i know the name of it, it's easier to say than level reader. "This thing right here is known as a scouter, it reads people's power levels and as i told you before, it can also receive and make calls to anyone else with one of them. Now, at the tournament, i read your power level as 356 while mine was at 350. But, afterwards, i measured myself and i was up to 400. Now, if i measure you again. It shows that your power increased to 395, not bad."
"That's pretty cool. So, since we're still pretty even, wanna get started?"
"Sure, i've been waiting for another good fight with you."
"Same here, but this time, we fight for our planet."
"For our planet." We began to fight each other at breakneck speeds. Every punch we threw and connected caused a large gust of wind to blast across the wasteland, at one point it was so strong it knocked a tree about 20 feet in the air, give or take. We sparred the whole day until the sun went down; by then, the two of us were not looking the best, we had bruises, cuts, scrapes, singe marks and i accidentally gave Stryker a black eye, so the training was going great. Stryker brought a large oak and sliced it into a decent stack of fire wood; i made a fire pit, stacked some wood and shot an energy blast to ignite it. We sat down and Stryker covered up his eye with an ice pack he'd brought.
"Here, take it, we have plenty to spare." I tossed him a senzu, he ate it and almost instantly, his eye returned to its normal color and the swelling went down as well as all his other injuries were healed.
"Thanks, i forgot how effective those things were. So, while we're waiting here, why not give me some backstory? What exactly are you, what are saiyans?" I prodded the flame with a large stick and set it down next to me.
"Well, to be honest, i don't really know a lot about them myself, i just know that they were once warriors for justice in space, but then a space tyrant by the name of Zoltris came one day and took over their planet as part of his empire; what i know now is that they work for Zoltris as soldiers to destroy planet defenses in order to sell them. But i know that they'll come back, as a saiyan myself, i look for a good fight wherever i go, we're warriors by nature, we accept all challenges. But, that's really all i know, i mean, i've lived all my life here on earth, i crash landed as a baby."
"Hm, so that's all huh? well, it's not much, but at least it's something. Now then, want a hot dog? I packed food for our training trip here."
"I'll take five." We grilled our own on the fire, i managed to spear and cook five at once and even placed them on the buns at the same time. After about two minutes, i already ate them all while Stryker was only halfway through his first.
"Jeez, you eat way too fast."
"Guess saiyans are just naturally bottomless pits as well. So, if i may ask, what's your story? I barely know anything about you." He set down his hot dog and began to tell me his story.
"Well, how should i start? I come from a long line of very experienced martial artists, my father was one, so was my grandfather and so on. Our family was one of the strongest and most famous people in the world because of our strength and martial arts experience, but that experience didn't save my parents one day. It was about ten years ago, i was only six; my parents and i were walking back to our car from the latest martial arts tournament my dad was in, he had won of course, but the prize money got the attention of a mugger.
We were walking back when this guy who seemed to be a homeless man came up to us and asked for spare change like they usually do; my dad brought out his wallet to give him something, he brought out a gun in return. He didn't even give him a chance, as soon as my dad realized what he pulled out, the trigger had already been pulled, the bullet tearing through both of them in the chest, i tried to run, but he shot me too, luckily it hit my lower left side, but i was on the ground, unconscious due to shock and pain.
After i was released from the hospital, i was placed in foster care, but i ran away, back to my own house, and began to train harder than ever. My dad had taught me mixed martial arts and i was intent on improving my technique and getting stronger, vowing to get revenge and never letting something like that happen to me again. After three years, i heard the legend of Korin and decided to look for myself, hoping to get stronger than how i was, and you basically know the story from there."
I sat there, listening intently and realized that he had about as much guidance as i did when it came to having a family.
"Wow, i didn't expect to hear that, and to think, we tried to destroy each other at the tournament."
"Yeah, it's funny how things play out huh?"
"Yeah, well, i'm turning in for the night, we'll train more tomorrow."
"Alright, tomorrow." He managed to bring a tent and he set it up, i on the other hand decided just to roll out my sleeping bag and sleep under the stars. As i looked up before i went to sleep, i wondered which star held my home planet, which one i belong to. I let these thoughts go and went off to sleep.
I woke up before Stryker and so i decided to practice some energy moves while i was waiting for him to wake up. I fired blasts into the air and different beams, but they were all generic power blasts; i've been working on my own original move for a few years now, and i'm pretty sure it's close to being completed. I concentrated, brought my hands to my sides, with my palms facing forward, a bright yellow energy sphere appeared in each one, but i continued to charge them up. Eventually, i thought i had enough energy, i brought my hands together in front of me and shouted the name of the move.
"Nova Blast!" A huge, yellow and orange energy blast fired from my hands, out into space, much stronger than any energy blast i've ever produced; finally, it was complete, now i just need to work on the charge time and it'll be way more efficient. I fell to my knees after that, since i didn't realize it would take so much energy and i was still recovering from yesterday; i pulled out a senzu, ate it and felt good as new. I got some spare training in while i waited, but it wasn't for long since i heard the tent zipper open up and Stryker came out.
"*yawn* well, you're up early, guess training really appeals to you huh?"
"You know it, i want to get stronger as fast as possible. Also, while you were snoozing, i managed to complete a move i've been developing for about three years now, guess i just needed a higher power and a larger energy pool to pull it off."
"I wanna see what it is, show me." I smirked at him.
"Alright, let's see what you think." I began charging the move again, collecting my energy a small amount faster this time and brought my hands together. "Nova Blast!" The beam fired into space again; i looked over at Stryker who had a look of shock and impression on his face.
"And you've been working on that for three years?"
"Yeah, i've completed it at last." He seemed really impressed and then chuckled a bit.
"Alright, that was pretty impressive, but can it handle my own personal attack?"
"What do you mean?"
"Heh, you'll see." he brought his hand back and charged a blue energy sphere. "Charge your attack if you want, let's see if it can handle mine." I got into my stance and began to charge up another nova blast, he then brought his hand forward and fired a bright blue beam of energy, i then fired my own move.
"Planetary burst!"
"Nova Blast!" The beams collided and in an astounding turn of events, they were of about equal strength, for approximately three seconds, my nova blast began moving closer and closer to Stryker, my blast was bigger and charged for longer as well as my overall strength was higher. The energy sphere that was created in the center was inching closer and closer to him, eventually, he couldn't keep up and dodged out of the way, just barely.
"Alright, well, it seems like yours is the best, but you gotta admit, i did put up a fight."
"Yeah, you did, i'm impressed at how strong yours is though, but just get stronger, you'll be able to take out almost anyone with it." He nodded at me. We then went out hunting for something to eat this morning. We split up and made it a bit of a contest, whoever catches the most or the biggest game, gets the tent for the whole week. I flew through the forest, looking at all the animals, but didn't seem to find much that was worthy of a kill; suddenly, i heard very heavy footsteps nearby and the roar of a dinosaur. I looked behind me and smiled, because standing there, was a very large T-rex about 30 feet tall and like 40 feet long, i cracked a smile and flew forward to confront it.
i walked back to base camp and saw Stryker standing there with a large pile of animals of every kind; deer, bears, fish, wolves, even pigs; the pile was about 15 feet high and he was sitting proud on top of it.
"Well, looks like i've won, you don't even have a single scrap of food to present."
"Huh, oh yeah, that. i stored mine in the forest, give me a sec."
"Alright, but it's still not gonna be as good as mine, hahaha." I went to the woods, picked up the dinosaur, flew to base where he was still laughing and slammed it on the ground which made his pile of food bounce a little. "Huh? Wait what!?"
"Yeah, give up the tent, i win." After our little contest, we cooked up some of our food to eat up. Stryker grilled up some bear meat while i cooked and ate an entire dinosaur leg.
"Dude, where do you keep all that food? you literally ate hundreds of pounds of meat, i'm amazed you haven't exploded."
"Like i said before, saiyans must need a lot of food to keep our strength and energy up, we are warriors after all. Anyway, let's get to training, i don't want to miss a single moment that i can get stronger."
"You go on ahead, give me like two hours, i can't train on a full stomach." I nodded and went off to train on my own; i was punching, kicking and throwing energy blasts into the air, it wasn't much, but it was at least some form of training. I decided to test my strength against my own blast, so i charged up a normal energy wave and blasted it so that it looped back around towards me, i blocked it with one hand, but it was pushing me back, i put both hands on it and began walking forward with some difficulty, then i shot another blast and sent it flying backwards. Even though i was training on my own, punching large rocks and firing blasts at myself for two hours, did some damage. Suddenly, i heard Stryker's voice behind me.
"Yo, take this, it looks like you need it." I turned around and caught the senzu that he threw at me and ate it.
"Thanks, so, you ready to train again?"
"Yep, now let's do this thing." We began sparring again, but this time, i could feel that our power was beginning to gap, not much, but noticeable to me. I couldn't tell if Stryker noticed it, but i held back a bit so that we would be somewhat equal. We kept fighting until i decided to try something else out, i charged up two energy blasts in each hand and enveloped my fists in the blasts, i then punched Stryker with each one and the damage was very noticeable, he had singe marks and larger bruises than normal.
"Oh jeez, i'm sorry, i didn't know that would be so powerful."
"Ow! yeah, that hurt. How did you get that to happen?"
"Well, i just enveloped my fists in energy orbs and began punching. I think i'm gonna call it energy gauntlets."
"You know, i wanna try it now." He charged up two energy spheres and tried to bind them to his fists, but he retracted when it burnt him. "Ow. Alright, how were you able to do that?"
"It's kinda simple actually. You don't let the energy ball touch your hand, mold it around your fist while keeping a very light protective layer of ki, like this." I showed him, slowly this time. I surrounded my hand in a very faint layer of ki, then, i produced the energy ball that wrapped around my hand and it didn't burn whatsoever.
"Alright, i think i got it now." He did as i did, first forming the layer of ki and then enveloping his hand in the sphere of ki. "hey, it's not burning, i think i did it."
"Yeah, you did. Now, hit me with it. Right here, right in the face" I charged up my ki and stood, ready to take the hit.
"You sure about this?"
"Positive, now do it." He powered up, charged forward and hit me, right in my left cheek. I felt his punch and then the blast detonate; the feeling would be as if you got punched in the face while the guy was wearing a glove with shotguns for knuckles and the moment he punched you, the shotguns went off as well, so yeah, it hurt and i was sent flying through 3 rock formations. When i got up, i felt and saw that my cheek was smoking; it wasn't a lot of residual damage, but it slightly burnt and the initial punch hurt like hell. I flew back to Stryker who was busy improving his now newfound energy gauntlets.
"Dude, these things are awesome."
"I know, right. Jeez, i'm glad my energy shielded me enough, otherwise there wouldn't be much of my face left for you to see."
"Yeah, i can tell. So, wanna go again? Full on spar."
"Oh yeah, let's do this." We charged up and charged forward, but this time, each one of us had an energy gauntlet surrounding both our hands. The moment our fists collided, the resulting shockwave from the physical impact and the energy explosion caused us both to get launched towards the ground, bounce and crater two mountains. I was having a blast, i flew forward and we both began punching and kicking like madmen, hitting each other, dodging some hits and throwing energy gauntlets here and there.
For the next two and a half months, we kept at it, sparring and improving our abilities. By now, we figured out how to rapid fire punch with energy gauntlets and even manifest them into our kicks. But one other thing i realized was that our power gap was increased so much more than in the beginning; at this point in time, i have to power down to 75% to be even with Stryker, and i think he's caught on as well. We only had one week left until Cellio came along, but i'm not sure if we're ready, even though our power levels rose drastically; right now, My power is at 5000 while Stryker's is at 3750, but i have the strangest feeling i need more power than what i'm at right now, although there may be one way we can power up in such a short amount of time.
"We go into the time chamber? Are you serious? That thing was not very forgiving to me when i went in there the first time."
"But we're leagues stronger now than before, we can handle it."
"Fine, but we're only staying in there for one month, by that time you'll have discarded your need for me."
"What do you mean?"
"You think i don't know? I can tell our power is gapping, you've become so much stronger than i have, and i know that you might not need my help in the fight. So it's probably best that you no longer need me."
"Stryker, in these past two months, i've learned that even though the fight seems hopeless, you keep pushing forward. You've become my best friend and i would be honored to have your help in this fight. Now, will you come and train with me?" I extended my hand to him, he smiled, grabbed it and stood up.
"Alright, i'll help, we'll be in the time chamber for 3 months instead of one, that should give us more than enough strength."
"Alright, let's do this." We flew to the lookout and asked to use the time chamber, Kami agreed and we went in. For the next three months we spared like we usually did, only this time, the gravity of the chamber allowed us to get stronger faster. Before we went out, Stryker gave me one last request.
"You want me to what?"
"Fight me in a beam struggle, do your Nova Blast, full power, do not hold back even for a second. If you do, i won't forgive you."
"Fine, you're sure you really want to do this?"
"Yes, i'm entirely sure, now do it." He flew back and began charging his planetary burst.
"Fine, but don't blame me if you get hurt." I began to charge up my Nova Blast, full power just like he wanted. We fired at the same time and they collided with a green orb in the center, but the orb was moving closer and closer to Stryker, that is until he began powering up to his giant state and equalized the struggle. Suddenly, the colliding orb began moving towards me.
"Come on Cherik, i know you're holding back! Unleash the real power you have!"
"Fine, you want it so bad, have it!" I sustained the Nova Blast with one hand and with another i charged a power ball, threw it into the air and detonated it. I looked straight at the thing and began growing, my power increasing and becoming more like an oozaru, until my transformation was complete. The battle had taken a sharp turn in my favor, the struggle was won already, there was nothing else Stryker could do. He stopped his beam and dodged out of the way of mine. We both powered down and walked back towards the exit, breathing heavily.
"Dude, i have to admit, you are in a whole different league than me, but in my giant form, i did hold off a good bit didn't i?"
"Yeah, you sure did. Now, let's take the rest of the week to rest up, we need all the energy we have to beat him when he comes along." I tossed him one of the last two senzus i had, we both ate one and went out to the real world again, for one final week of rest.
"Hey Cherik, before we head off, scout us, i wanna see our levels and how they compare."
"Alright." I brought out my scouter and pointed it at his direction. "It reads that your power is 7500. Here, now scout me."
"Holy crap, yours is at 10000!" He handed the scouter back to me, i put it in my backpack again.
"Wow, that is one hell of a power boost. Anyway, we'll see each other in a week, till then."
"Yeah, till then." We went our separate ways and i went home to rest up before the battle. I would not lose.
Author's note: Hey, how's it going, just gonna make this brief. So yeah, i upload late, mostly because i do other stuff or am just to lazy to keep updating for a while. Anyway, one thing i like to clear up is the names of Cherik and Cellio. The last chapter had a mistake and i typed Callio instead, but anyway, Cellio, is of course, a pun on celery, while Cherik on the other hand is, you're not gonna believe this, a pun on Cherry. I know, a saiyan named after a fruit? OUTRAGEOUS! But i just wanted to do something different, anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter and a little spin off story coming soon. Till then, ciao.
