I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the rights to any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.
Chapter 19: Hollow Training
"Come on, why won't you tell me what you and Bulma found out the other day?" Lenz asked as we walked towards the gravity chamber for training.
"That was a two weeks ago Lenz, and I already told you that nothing went down. We found out who may be behind everything, but not very much in the details. Believe me, when I go back there, it won't be to talk!" I replied angrily. It was the fourth time that day that either she or Trunks had approached me about it, and it was getting irritating. I had a feeling that Vegeta might have been behind it, trying to draw the information out of either Bulma or myself; he had failed at doing that himself. She had locked herself in her lab again while examining the device they pulled from the robot down in the temple, as it might have provided a clue that Vegeta would have certainly overlooked. Bulma hadn't even meant for him to know of our little trip to see Cash, but it's kind of hard to ignore when Goku blurted out sensing us in the area while he and Chichi were shopping at one of Cash's stores. I didn't think he would try to grill Piccolo for it, because that would have been assuming the Namek had even been watching what would have been an "insignificant human ordeal." That would likely take time from his precious meditation cycles and everyone knew that couldn't happen. The silence was bothering Lenz a bit, as she likely suspected that I was dodging her question on purpose, which meant some sort of provocative action later if she really wanted to know. Note to self; get her drunk enough to forget about it.
That was another matter that Vegeta hadn't been overly happy about, Lenz had been going out to party a lot lately and was coming home completely smashed. He allowed her to do what she wanted as long as she wasn't causing trouble, but in my humble opinion, she was just asking for it. The drinking wasn't much of a problem; it was the other part of going out to party. Ever since her training in the afterlife, she had matured more physically, thus she looked at least closer to what I would deem a legal drinking age. That didn't mean she was legal, but sometimes you don't need to be with the right look. The phone calls from those who got the number didn't help Vegeta's temper. I tried to remind him that humans had a nasty habit of trying to get in the pants of every cute girl they saw just because of instinct. It was after all very true, boy sees attractive girl, boy's instincts and hormones kick in and he wants to commence the mating cycle, it wasn't anything I could deny. Lenz, being as she was, drew an awful lot of attention. Not only that, but after just a few nights out in the wild, no less than thirty guys had either called or knocked on the doors of Capsule Corp. As if karma had anything to do with it, Vegeta had usually been the one to answer the door. Not much actually happened, past one or two broken bones when they asked to see his daughter. His initial reactions hadn't been very good for anyone nearby, especially if that someone had mentioned what he wanted to do with her. We weren't quite sure where some of them landed, but the odds of survival were nonexistent. I did have to explain to him that they likely mistook Lenz to be his actual daughter, with the purple hair and all.
That was just as potentially bad though, because then he looked bound and determined to, in his words, "Eliminate at least seventy percent of the adult male humans by the time my daughter reaches puberty!" I didn't actually stop to consider that Vegeta might be trying to adjust to his role as a father who now had a daughter that would likely grow up in a similar manner to her mother, but I still doubted it. In any case, he handed over Lenz's personal training to me for the day, and now I had to deal with whatever he might have drilled into her head. He had gotten a phone call from Goku to come to the lookout for a match, and that had broken his usually tight training schedule. We had scheduled a heavy match for the day, one that Lenz had been lobbying for since I had met her. It was slightly disappointing, but Goku hadn't offered him a match much lately. All the chaos streaming from the summer camp fallout had kept everyone with their families. Lenz had gotten a lot better in her short time on Earth, primarily because of Vegeta. She still moved in various ways that I might have done differently, but it wasn't anything I would pester her about. He had mentioned wanting her to get a little stronger before trying to take her further, but the lessons she needed revolved more around patience and understanding her surroundings in a battle. Vegeta didn't teach patience nearly as well as Piccolo, and his surroundings tended to get blown up if he didn't like or understand them. He taught me enough about anticipation, but wasn't nearly as thorough as Piccolo since strength training tended to be his forte.
-
"Verto, I want to know!" she begged again, bending over just slightly with her back to me, wiggling.
"Stop that Lenz, shaking your ass isn't going to work. But just for that, your program just went up a few notches," I grinned slightly.
"You're no fun!" she whimpered as she entered the large gravity chamber.
"Now, who shall it be today?" I pondered as I glanced through the list of capable sparring holo-partners.
"I think it should be you, mister high and mighty! You're not too scared to take on a girl are you?" she said, clearly trying to agitate me. Once she saw that the suggestive movements weren't working, she decided to try a different route. If I decided to spar with her, it would likely come back to that if she got lucky, which was doubtful. Another reason losing the tail was a good thing.
"Let's see, which hologram did you fight last time?" I asked, ignoring her woes.
"Vegeta had me fight the Goku one again at the maximum setting for a while. Then when I won, he took it on instead, really beat it up too," she answered. There was a slight glimmer in her eye about it, meaning either she had actually lost against the hologram, or it was too easy in her opinion. It was probably the latter; she had been bragging about beating that program and the next one up before Trunks did.
"Then you get Bullard, at two hundred and fifty!" I said with a dark grin. Whatever hopes she had of weaseling information out of me had just gone flying out the window along with whatever pride she had in beating a fake fighter. She frowned at me and started to stretch suggestively as I input the information. Just for that I also set the hologram's setting at near maximum, but mostly because it saved me the trouble of resetting it later, as I also planned on taking on the top program. It was the only one I hadn't completely plowed over yet, and only because I hadn't fought it. Bulma had set things up so that you couldn't fight the higher-level programs until you had beaten the previous one at maximum setting and at two hundred and fifty times gravity minimum. That had been another request from Vegeta, but an understandable one to prevent over-exhaustion for Lenz and Trunks until they were used to it. I had already beaten the previous four at the maximum setting and at five hundred times gravity in two days time. What made things nice was that you could literally kill the hologram to end the session, and no harm done. It was good practice for real battles as Vegeta put it, and I agreed for the most part. I was never one to hold back on artificial intelligence anyway. The only flaw was that Bulma hadn't programmed in certain reactions to my abilities other than damage, so I had to settle sometimes. My feedback technique was a good example of that; nothing actually happened. Yet my lightning blasts could nearly fry all the circuits. I had yet to take on the final hologram, which was supposed to be similar to Cell except for looks, so I didn't know what to expect yet. Since Lenz had also beaten the previous set of holograms, I felt she wanted to prove herself.
"Tell you what, you beat this program before I do, and I'll tell you what all happened. You can even go first," I offered.
That changed her mood in a hurry, "Well come on, get that electronic asshole out here so I can crush him!"
"Ask and you shall receive," I warned as I pressed the enable button. A tall blonde man appeared in the room dressed in a brown outfit similar to Goku's.
"Finally, my time has come! Oh, it's the little girl again, what a waste of my time!" he said with a laugh.
"Whatever, let's go Blondie! Begin!" Lenz challenged as she lowered into a stance. That was all Bullard needed before lifting off the ground and charging towards her. I allowed myself to grin slightly as I sat off to the side and observed. The battle started as a short scuffle before Bullard landed a few hard hits and forced her backwards. Instead of continuing the attack, he backed off and folded his arms, chuckling slightly. Lenz frowned, but knew what the hologram likely wanted her to do next. Bullard didn't seem to fight seriously until his opponent did the same. Blue ki erupted from Lenz for a short power up before she ignited a few ki balls and tossed them into the air. Bullard glanced at them, unimpressed for the moment as Lenz jumped to catch them. Then she spun and kicked one right towards him, spinning again to kick the other one. Bullard dodged the first one, and put himself right in the path of the other one, which hit dead on. The smoke cleared quickly, revealing not much more than a blemish, but his smile was gone. A light blue aura sparkled to life around the hologram, prompting Lenz to blind him with her own golden light. As soon as the Super Saiyan showed herself, Bullard launched into attack mode again, punching brutally as Lenz struggled to block initially. Ten to twenty seconds passed before I saw any real change in activity between the two. Slowly, Lenz recovered from the quick attack and began blocking his blows with ease, using only her hands and arms to deflect. Bullard's strategy changed quickly, and he started throwing in random kicks and spinning blows. He started punching and kicking in a specific pattern that I picked up on halfway through, and continued until he jumped back and fired his own blast off. Lenz was caught totally unprepared in the middle of a spin kick and fell to the ground for the moment when it struck her face. "I hate it when he does that!" she groaned and wiped off her lip.
"Then you have to anticipate! Whenever your opponent starts a continuous pattern like that, they usually end it with something completely different! This isn't all about a bunch of fancy moves and explosions!" I said.
"Yeah yeah, I know!" she growled back. It wasn't her fault completely; after all, we couldn't sense any power levels from the holograms. She had been the only one to complain, but there wasn't much we could do about it. It was a good teaching tool since being able to sense energy clearly made battles easier. I stayed quiet as Lenz and Bullard started up again, and I saw his pattern erupt again. Lenz blocked each blow and returned a few kicks when she recognized it, but I could tell she was waiting for him to make that move again so she could counter it. She initiated it by spinning around, and again, Bullard jumped back to fire. She was ready this time and phased out right when the blast got there. She reappeared behind a surprised Bullard and punched right through him. She gasped at the after image until she was nailed from behind, putting her into the wall.
"Argh!" she groaned in pain while the hologram waited patiently for her to get up again.
"I guess you're not the fighter I was waiting for, pity!" Bullard mocked.
"Shut up!" Lenz shouted back as she held her bruised face.
"Do you need me to lower the settings?" I chuckled.
"No," she muttered angrily.
-
The battle continued with the hologram getting the best of her at almost every turn. Only twice did she actually win a scuffle, but each time she didn't take the opportunity to finish the fight when he was stunned. She could keep up with him; it was just a matter of anticipation and capitalizing on mistakes. She also didn't save her stronger attacks like she should have, and used them at bad times, which only damaged the walls.
"You can't assume your opponent will let you recover, even when he's stunned. You have to take the fight to him before he recovers, that's how a lot of these battles are won! Just stunning him and backing off won't work. Save your big attacks for when you know they will land!" I advised.
"I'd like to see you do this then!" she called back from her sitting position. She was almost out of breath and a bit battered at this point, though Bullard hadn't been going that easy on her. I got up and cracked my knuckles just a bit, motioning for her to back off.
"Change target!" I said, resulting in Bullard turning my way.
"Are you the fighter I've been promised? You don't look like it!" he said, frowning.
"Say whatever makes you feel better," I grinned as my ki to rose quickly.
"I shall make an example out of you then, you may attack when ready!" he offered. I guess the intelligence level isn't high enough. Lenz looked eager to see what I would do against Bullard's fighting style, but I didn't plan on worrying about it. I held my palm up and charged a low power ki blast, but made sure to make it large enough to seem like a threat. Bullard's eyes narrowed slightly and he positioned himself in a wide and open stance, slightly wider on the left. He's going to counter. Attack is probably coming from my left. I launched the ball and stayed in position until I saw him flinch, turning and blocking his failed punch from the left side. I took the chance and kicked straight up into his midsection, stunning Bullard right under the rubs. His grimace turned into a shocked expression when I left an imprint of my fist there next, and he dropped and bent over. I glanced over at Lenz, who was surprised to say the least.
"Well, you're cheating! You're stronger than I am after all!" she surmised. I rolled my eyes slightly, if she had been paying attention, she would have noticed that I still hadn't gone past the level she had been at previously.
"Or maybe I can read my opponent better. I'm trying to teach you patience and anticipation, it's a very important lesson and it can turn the tide of battle for you very quickly. The tiniest little movement can be seen with the naked eye; you have to learn to see past that movement to know what is coming. Sometimes enemies can lay out decoy movements to try to throw you off their game plan, and you have to adjust again. It will improve your offense and defense," I explained in an agitated tone.
"I almost never see you get into a long brawl like that unless you're sparring. In that fight against Viro you went for the kill almost the entire time with your special attacks!" she pointed out, though she hadn't seen all of it since some of it was in outer space.
"That's different; a lot of my training in the mystic arts revolves around finishing the battle as quickly as possible, through patience and anticipation! Viro couldn't anticipate a majority of my attacks because he was relying on Gohan's fighting experience, and for the most part, Gohan hadn't seen any of my battles or training during the war, or after. Even when he did, he didn't completely understand them until it was too late. He tried to counter me with his own version of my techniques and used his slightly superior strength. Obviously that didn't work, since no one knows all of my moves better than me. If he hadn't of had that virus to rely on, that battle would have been over very quickly. Also keep in mind that I was trying to finish it quickly due to the virus!"
Lenz looked slightly startled at this, but just shrugged it off, "Well why didn't you train me like that in the afterlife?"
"That wasn't the purpose of your training then, you couldn't handle Vegeta's training even if you could see through every attack he makes. Simply put, you weren't strong enough yet. He considers this to be very basic training that you should pick up in the blink of an eye, but in all honesty, it's more advanced since it makes you train as though every battle will be very tough to win. You weren't trained that much prior to coming here, all you had was Saiyan instinct," I continued.
"I know that, I mean the other abilities you have, with that Psi energy or whatever you call it," she said, looking hopeful.
"I can't. Or more specifically, you can't. I haven't been able to sense anything abnormal about your spiritual energy in that manner. It generally takes a lot of Psi for you to even notice it there. We'll give it some more time, after all I didn't know about it for the longest time either, and I didn't even notice it till during the war with the Zerg," I replied.
She gazed downward for a moment, looking very disappointed, but piped up suddenly, "If I have that potential, can I get as good as you or Gohan are, or as strong?"
"That's a big if. Gohan isn't that capable with Spirit energy, well not yet anyway. He might climb the ladder and surprise me though; it wouldn't be the first time. It's more of a strength boost for him, and he uses it to teleport, that's about it for now. Should we find that potential buried in there somewhere, we'll try to bring it out, but it could take a very long time. I doubt the Kais will be eager to lend a hand like they did for me, but you never know. Now then, prepare yourself! We're going to take this up a notch so I can teach you anticipation a little more properly. Computer, raise gravity level to three hundred!" My legs flinched slightly as the extra weight hit me, plus I still hadn't taken off my weighted clothing. Once I had readjusted to the new level of weight, I powered up to the level Lenz had been at and stopped there.
"Reset program, begin!" I barked at the computer. Bullard vanished and then reappeared unscathed, dropping into a more serious stance this time and keeping quiet for once.
-
An hour later, I watched Lenz attempt to fix her patience problems against the top-level hologram once again. I had spent the better part of that time beating the tar out of it, killing it off several times with nicely timed ki blasts and had never really getting pushed. It was almost too easy even with three hundred times gravity, but I had powered up to my maximum without going to the next level, and the hologram suffered many painful rounds as result. Bullard never used much more than a minor blast and never really had enough time for more before I was all over him. I almost had to double-check the settings just to be sure they weren't too low. I resumed my passive training once powered down and observed Lenz's next session. Lenz was struggling a bit more with the added gravity, but she was reading him a bit better and was able to counter more minor attacks than before. The more I watched though, the more I couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong with the program. Granted there was a sizable difference between her power and mine, but even at three hundred, she shouldn't have been struggling that much past a few mental errors. Her technique started to get sloppy as her power waned a bit, and Bullard seemed to sense the moments of weakness coming. He suddenly phased out, and when he reappeared before Lenz, there was a double coming at her from behind. Some sort of split form? Both fighters were as real as holograms get, and both beat on Lenz until she backed off, favoring a sore chest and bruised arms.
"Alright, stop! That's enough for today," I said, addressing both Lenz and the two Bullards. It had been obvious that the AI had been holding back on purpose and had simply finished her off once she was worn down. The pair turned towards me, giving the evil eye along with a vicious grin. I glared back, before feeling a tremendous amount of force press down on me. The gravity level had just increased by several levels, and by my guess it had gone to at least five hundred.
"End program!" I shouted at the computer. Nothing happened, except for the two Bullards coming closer. Must be some sort of malfunction. Another force of weight made itself known, and actually drove me to a knee for the moment until I released some more energy. Lenz had powered down during the beating, and was struggling to move until she transformed again. The twin Bullards didn't pay her any mind though; they had clearly set their sights on me.
"Come here little boy, it is time for spankings!" they said at the same time. It wasn't what the holograms said that got my attention, but the tone of Bullard's voice had changed slightly into a stale, robotic voice, void of emotion. I lifted an eyebrow at this, allowing both images to approach within ten feet.
"What's going on?" Lenz asked loudly.
"It looks like a malfunction of some kind. Try to exit the room and stay powered up so you can move," I replied as cool as possible. I dared to cast one eye towards the control panel, and saw a large display flashing the number six hundred to anyone who would read. No wonder I feel so heavy, and Lenz will struggle to get across the room even at the Super Saiyan level.
"Computer, this is Verto. I told you to stop! Return gravity level to normal!" I said loud and clear. Nothing happened, outside of a slight chuckle out of one of the holograms.
"Can't we just manually shut it off then and have Bulma fix it?" Lenz asked as her knees shook.
"Yeah, that's why I said to leave the room, move it!" I said sternly.
"What about you?" she asked.
"He is not leaving," the Bullard on the left said.
"Go Lenz," I said as I prepared to power up much further. I reached my normal maximum quickly enough, and the first Bullard charged in, punching and kicking with much more precision than before. I focused on only blocking his blows so I could keep an eye on the other one, who hadn't moved.
But he had turned towards Lenz, "And neither are you my dear!" Lenz was floored from the left side by a knee, and I know I heard a rib crack on impact. I stopped suppressing my Psi energy almost immediately and lashed out at Bullard number one with a quick burst of energy lightning. He lit up with pain as it likely disrupted his program, and he quickly faded out. Once he was gone, I locked on to the second image and summoned my sword. Bullard was kicking Lenz in the same general area on her right side many times over, and she cried out in pain louder and louder.
"Hey, in case you haven't noticed, your twin is gone!" I shouted at him. He stopped and turned on his heel, locking eyes on me instead. I held up my other hand and created another Psi sword, and Bullard grimaced.
"You cannot win runt!" he growled.
"Try and stop me then!" I dared. I tossed the second sword straight at his head like a lance, and watched it miss. Bullard dodged to his left, and I dashed after him, readying the other sword with both hands. Bullard glided across the floor quickly, clearly not being affected by the gravity at all. I wasn't so lucky, even at maximum I was struggling just to match ground speed in the severe gravity. So while he now had a speed advantage, he still knew to veer away, vanquishing his program so many times earlier had taught him that. Bullard kept gliding and shifting away from me, not risking a chance that I get close enough to end things. I patiently waited for my opportunity to strike, prolonging the chase so Bullard could not go after Lenz again. But it was a heavy strain of gravity I hadn't been through before, and it was proving a little more difficult than I wanted. Bullard didn't take his eyes off me, but did stop suddenly with a slight grin on his face. I didn't, and swiped right through the hologram at the neck. The image vanished instantly, leaving only the low hum of the gravity devices. I ran towards the computer panel and pressed the deactivation switch first. Nothing happened, and the display did not change for a few seconds, before a big red ERROR message flashed up. Yeah, no shit. Lenz had almost made it to the door, but in her condition it would have been very hard to open. I went to help her, knowing the chamber should shut off if the door is opened. I didn't go far before I was hit hard from behind, finding myself smashed into the wall. I growled a bit as I stood back up uneasily, and turned to see another Bullard standing there.
"Hasn't your program run long enough?" I asked.
"No, in fact, I do not think it has run quite enough yet!" he declared with a creepy grin. I heard the computer beep and suddenly several more images shimmered into view, all of them the same as Bullard, nearly twenty of them. They all began laughing at once, creating a most annoying echo that reverberated off the walls for several seconds after they were done. Great, more copies.
"Can you see your death yet boy?" the Bullard in front asked.
"Sorry, vision's a little blurry today. All I see is a bunch of phonies made out of lights and program code. Fighting robots might actually have some meaning compared to this; at least they are real to an extent," I sneered back.
"Your wit only prolongs your pain. If we are not real, then obviously neither is this!" I was suddenly hit from behind almost the instant he finished, a direct punch to my head from one of their group. I couldn't sense him coming as it was, and now the gravity was dulling my natural awareness. I staggered to one knee and glared at the attacker, who only chuckled as he crossed his arms.
"I bet that felt real, did it not?" he asked as he bent over to look me straight in the eye.
"Shut up. You're nothing but a fucking picture!" I growled back as I struggled to get back on my feet.
"Hmph, maybe so, but what does that make you then? If this is the best you can do, I might as well end things now!" he boasted.
"Let her go and I'll show you what I can do," I said with defiance.
"Your emotional outpour is boring me. What is holding you back now? Do not tell me it is that pitiful creature on the floor?" he asked.
"I ask you to let her go, because my full power confined in this tight space will be overwhelming. I may not be able to control it completely," I said, mentally crossing my fingers. The fact was, I knew I could control myself just fine even while enraged; I just wanted to get Lenz out of the gravity before it had dire effects. And there was an outside chance of getting to the door myself if he backed off.
"I doubt it will be that much of a problem, but if it suits you, we will surround you, like so," he said. Suddenly I was encircled by all of the Bullards; each one was not even ten feet away. Oh well, so much for that bluff. Time for a clever spin of an attack, but the sword will be too obvious. I wonder…
"There, now you cannot possibly harm her without going through us. You did not actually think I would allow either of you to escape, did you?" Bullard asked as I was debating on what to attack with.
"It was a thought, but that wasn't what I had in mind; actually it goes a little something like this," I began as I released my pent up Psi energy. The Bullard group looked ready for anything, but stood still and watched as I gathered a great deal of Psi into my hand, concentrating it into a tight, spinning ball. I opened my palm, but continued to charge energy into it, making the ball shimmer with bright blue light that darkened or lightened the rest of the room as it spun.
"This is called my Spirit Orb. Though, this is a slightly different way of using it. Since you are stacking the odds, it's only fair that I bring this out," I said as I held the ball above my head.
"Amusing little trick, I hope you do not expect to be able to hit all of us with one blast do you?"
"I thought you were programmed to adjust to your opponent. I guess I was wrong, but let me give you a clue, you're in for a shocking display," I said with a tight grin. Instantly the group backed up a step, except for the speaker.
"You still will not be able to harm any of us," he boasted nervously.
"Yeah, I know you can self activate, but I noticed it seemed to disrupt you last time for at least a few seconds, and that's all we will need to get out of here. I hope you enjoy deletion! Because once we're out of here, your whole program is getting scrapped!"
"You talk nonsense; let us see if you can back up your words!" No sooner than he said it, I fired one streak of Psi lightning from the ball, keeping the rest back. It struck the speaking Bullard and streaked through him until he faded into nothing.
"Next?" I asked. All of them backed up further before scattering away towards the furthest walls.
"Fine, if you cowards want to go all at once!" I shouted. I squeezed the blast back into my hands and sent it out through my fingertips in various directions, striking the remaining Bullards until there were none left. I suddenly lost my breath, as the outflow of energy was catching up a bit in the heavy gravity. Realizing I only had a few seconds though, I ran for the door and grabbed the handle to open it. It felt like I was trying to push a mountain aside, and didn't even budge for a moment. After a few tense seconds, it finally turned just slightly, but not near enough to open it yet.
"Watch out!" Lenz cried out. I instinctively ducked a punch aimed for my head and saw the hologram's fist hit the door harmlessly. I rolled out of the way, eyes wide as I saw what appeared to be easily one hundred Bullards, filling up the room.
"How do you like these odds?" the front one said.
"How do you think?" I asked as I started charging my lightning blast again.
"Do not tell me you are going to try that again boy? It might deter me for a brief instant, but it is only a waste of energy!" He's got a point, he'll just keep coming back, looks like I'll have to take this a step further, sorry Bulma. I dropped my blast and realigned my differing energies for something else.
"Do not look so defeated boy! You play the game well; you should be honored now that it is over!"
"Well, you are right about one thing, the game is over," I said with a half grin as I powered up. The room shook a bit under the strain I was giving it now, and a few of the Bullards looked on in doubt, others unaffected. When I hit the threshold of Super Mystic, the strain of the gravity all but vanished, and I felt lighter than air once again. I closed my eyes to refocus a bit, and opened them in a tight glare at the holograms. All of them weren't sure what to make of the situation. After all, I hadn't transformed in the new chamber before.
"I do not register this transformation; it is unique," one of them said.
"I'll give you a nifty point of reference then. This will feel as if you were a real human being, getting run over by a train!" I shouted as I formed my green Chi sword and lifted off. I instantly sped across the room, spinning, stabbing and slashing at everything that registered as movement. When I turned around again, I only saw about a third of the holograms there, all of them frightened.
I allowed myself to smile for the moment, "Sorry, bad analogy, trains will at least leave something behind!" Before any of them moved, I phased in and out, hacking through twenty more of them, leaving only five spread around the room. They moved to surround me, but stayed cautious about it as I let them try to adjust to their situation. I turned briefly to the one on the right, before lifting my arm and blasting at him. He never had enough time to dodge and vanished instantly, leaving a few cracks in the floor. The Bullard from behind attempted a sneak attack, but I heard him coming and spun with sword in hand, wiping him out instantly. The last three charged all at once as I spun around. The first attacked with a punch that I caught easily while kicking up the middle to deflect the second, and slicing towards the third on the right. I missed with the sword blow, and lost focus for the moment, letting it slip away as I grabbed onto the first Bullard's wrist. I swung him around several times before letting go, sending him plowing over the other two at the same time. Just as they landed, I rushed towards them with fists glowing green, lighting all three up with several dozen hard punches for each. I stopped only when each of the holograms was showing signs of serious battle damage and were struggling to move. I didn't bother waiting and blasted two of them away with my first shot, leaving only the one, who looked on in surprise.
"Now I hope you can learn from this little error in your programming before I destroy your existence. I'm going to walk out of here on my own, and you won't stop me!" I said in confidence and I strode towards the door. Lenz had managed to get to one knee, and was using the wall for leverage.
"I guess that's why you're the teacher," she said with a humble smile. I nodded slightly as I reached for the door crank.
"Hold on!" Bullard shouted out. I turned just slightly, seeing he was standing again.
"What do you want now?" I growled back.
"There is one thing she did not tell you about this chamber. Its limitations!" he declared. I turned completely around to face him, but he didn't do much more then smile at me as I cocked a simple eyebrow that waited for an answer.
"I see I have your attention, good. You see, since you Saiyans can move so well in your transformed states, the gravity level becomes a moot point; it does not even affect you!"
"Thanks for the update moron!" I replied.
"I was not finished, and you really should listen to this part. You see, I have calculated beyond reasonable doubt what level of gravity it takes to truly ground a Saiyan like yourself, one who has transcended even the higher levels of power. And I believe that nothing short of fifteen hundred will do!"
My eyes popped open, "Lenz, go now!"
"I can't even move!" she whined back.
"Yes, your friend cannot move at her normal level now at six hundred times gravity. Even you find a slight difficulty at this level, but as you have demonstrated, it is nothing you cannot handle. I wonder though, how will you two fare at fifteen hundred? Will your bodies be instantly crushed into butter, or will you lumber around on the ground while your bones begin to break down? It will likely be an interesting display of carnage," he boasted.
"You're bluffing; Bulma wouldn't have made the chamber that powerful. And even if she did, there's no way the chamber itself could handle it!" I instantly felt a dramatic increase in the gravity and fell to my knees as my muscles burned. Lenz was flat on the ground, whimpering slightly.
"I know you felt that one, but it is only eight hundred. How about nine?" Another shift and Lenz moaned in pain while I lost my balance and fell forwards, barely catching myself with my hands. I could barely even move now, but I managed to press myself back to glaring at Bullard's cocky grin. I struggled to even breathe, the air was so heavy.
"Now you can feel it? You probably cannot even get to your feet now, though I would like to see you try!" For the moment, I granted his request, but my left knee gave out with a sickening and painful snap, and I fell to my back, cringing slightly.
"Almost made it, just for that you will get a thousand!" he laughed. My back and stomach suddenly felt as if they were trying to warp themselves into the floor or something. Good god, why did she have to make a chamber like this? A piece of debris from the ceiling then fell and hit me in the chest, feeling more like an anvil had dropped.
"Even pebbles feel like mountains in these conditions, you really should not have underestimated Miss Briefs' technological expertise!" Yeah, tell me something I don't know! I tried to say that, but my jaws were hurting so much that I couldn't open them very far.
"We are now at eleven hundred, since you cannot keep track of it, I will be happy to call out a number every so often. Makes your defeat seem a little more real now, does it not?" More dust and debris came from the ceiling, getting in my eyes for a brief second. Wait a sec, that's it. Once the chamber is breached, the program shuts down. Opening the door was only one way to breach it. I bet I know another!
I smiled slightly as I kept my eyes closed, "Looks like you overestimated things!"
"Whatever do you mean boy?" he asked.
"The gravity is tearing the chamber apart, and when it breaches, the fail-safe will kick in. You'll never make it to fifteen hundred!" I said in a painful tone. Bullard was silent for a few seconds, probably seeing what I was talking about.
"Maybe so, but you will be dead by then so it will not matter! My mission will be complete!" Mission? Oh great! Just what I needed in the middle of one investigation, I'd bet this has something to do with that. I sensed Lenz had passed out by now, and her energy was fading fast. My own power was also fading, and I knew I had to act before relying on the chamber to fall apart first. I managed to turn my head towards Bullard, who appeared to be flickering in and out of existence. His program can't stand up to this either, or the hologram transmitters can't, either way he won't be able to stop me. I turned back to the ceiling and groaned a bit as I lifted both hands towards it, charging almost every ounce of energy I had.
"What do you think you are doing boy? You should save your power so you live longer! Though I am afraid it will be too late for the girl by then!" he said in a pitiful tone.
"Just watch me; we're both gonna survive this! Super Galic Gun!" The green blast erupted out with tons of force, more then enough to get past the gravity and slam into the ceiling. I heard the reinforced shell fracture and saw my blast searing through the blue skies of the outside.
"No!" Bullard screamed as he faded out. The gravity let up instantly, and I found myself sitting in the middle of the large room, with the roof completely blown off and the walls falling apart. Lenz lay unmoving off to the side, her energy still fading. I got up and hobbled over to her, trying to shake her awake.
"Lenz snap out of it!" I ordered, getting nothing in response. I could feel her life force slipping away, and knew I had to stop it from leaving. I began to channel the rest of my energy, intent on healing her when I paused for a brief second. The possibility of mutation flowed through my mind, and though Lenz had shown no signs of it yet, any more exposure could result in something bad. Just because Bulma and Vegeta had been lucky didn't mean that everyone else would. My concern for her feelings on the matter was overthrown by logic though. Better alive in any state then dead. Thus I drained every last ounce of power I had to keep her alive. Her ki recovered slowly, but steadily improved until her eyes snapped open. I stopped once I felt feint, and watched as she woke up and checked herself over before locking eyes with me.
"Thanks, little teacher," she smiled.
"Uh huh," I grumbled as my eyes rolled backwards. I didn't even feel the hard floor when my head crashed into it.
Next time on DBV: As Verto is recovering and Bulma is investigating, Gohan and Videl come across strange happenings at Orange Star High. The unexpected development circles around one human girl, with a very potent ability.
WDG: Human girl with potent abilities, eh? Dave you crazy little man, what have you planned now? Still, I think I have a fairly good idea of what went wrong in that chamber… But I won't spoil anything. ;)
VB: Little? (insert eye twitch)