Tien awoke refreshed, laying down just a bit longer for the blur in his eyes to fade. He got up and proceeded to make his bed, did some stretches, and once he was finished he opened the door, the smell of delicious home cooked food being prepared and served fresh.
"Oh! Good morning Tien." Chiaotzu greeted his friend cheerfully, putting the plates on the table.
"Good morning, Chiaotzu." Tien greeted back, nodding. The two sat down, Tien taking in the smell of the freshly cooked meal.
"It smells delicious, thank you." Tien nodded.
"Hope you like it."
The two began eating at a slow pace, the morning sun illuminating the room.
"Any new ideas for techniques?" Chiaotzu asked, before popping a dumpling in his mouth.
"I think so." Tien said, looking contemplative. "I still haven't really come up with anything specific. That's what I plan to practice today."
"Better be careful when you face him." Chiaotzu, pointing upwards. "Who knows what kind of training 18 puts him through…"
"Yeah…" Tien chuckled. "Coupled with the fact that he's very good at controlling his Ki and that he's probably going to come up with something of his own will make him a very formidable opponent."
Chiaotzu smiled at him confidently. "Well, at least that will make victory all the sweeter won't it?"
"Don't underestimate him, Chiaotzu. In a fight, nothing is certain until victory is attained…"
"Yeah, I know…"
The two finished breakfast shortly thereafter, Tien thanking his roommate and then promising to come back home for lunch as Chiaotzu cleaned the plates
"Good luck Tien! Remember not to push yourself too hard."
With that he took off toward the north, Chiaotzu watching as he blasted off.
As he breezed through the air, the silent man's thoughts wandered aimlessly while searching for a good spot to train.
'I wonder what kind of training 18 will put him through… Knowing her it can't be anything too easy.'
He flew up further into the sky before stopping to survey the area. A particular spot caught his eye and he began rocketing towards it.
Upon landing, he inspected the area. It was a relatively small lake that streamed in the south eastern direction, a large waterfall just in front him. The lake was surrounded by lush green plants and trees filled with fruit.
He nodded to himself, taking off his shirt and placing it in a safe area where he was sure no one could get it before then heading to the front of the waterfall.
He stood on a rock that was just in front of the falling water, so close he could feel the droplets and splash of the current on his skin. Even so, this did not bother him.
He took a deep breath and sat down, continuing to inhale and exhale at a slow pace.
His ki grew in temperature, causing the water on his skin to evaporate along with any droplets that were in his way.
'Even if I do beat him, I'll have to deal with Goku afterwards.' He thought to himself, sweat dropping a little from his forehead. 'Even if the Super Saiyan transformation is off the table, he's still many times stronger than me… And that's not even going into how skilled he is. Both physically and with his ki.'
He extended his arm in front of him, gathering his energy toward his palm. The force emanating from it made some of the droplets begin to float.
He released the pulse of energy toward the waterfall in front of him, using his telekinesis to send it skyward, and mix it with the energy within the waterfall.
The water from bottom to top, split perfectly in half with a white energy emanating from the crack.
Tien did not change his body position, focused on keeping the waterfall split. He had long mastered this exercise, so much so that it became less of a way to challenge his ki and more of a warm up exercise.
As he held the water in place, he continued his train of thought.
'We all have the advantage of not having fought each other in a while, so while I might not know if they have new techniques up their sleeves they don't know about mine either.' He reasoned with himself. 'I should make sure to not show any new techniques I come up with too quickly and save it to catch them off guard. Not only that but Goku will immediately be able to adapt to it. Maybe even create his own version of the attack and improve on it.' He thought, remembering their fight in the tournament when he used the multi armed technique.
'I'll have to keep an eye out for anything they might have too. I'll do my best to not give them any openings. Maybe for one round I could try using the solar flare right from the start? Would that be too predictable?"
A few minutes of wondering about his strategy, he accidently let go of the waterfall causing the two sides to join together once again.
'Damn. I lost concentration.' He clicked his mouth, annoyed. 'I can think about all of this later. For now just focus on training, Tien.'
The man closed his eyes again, refocusing his ki and, once more, splitting the waterfall in two.
The continued for five or so minutes before deciding to move on to his next warm up, that being, moving his ki to different parts of his body as fast as he could.
The more energy he put into one of his limbs or his fist, the heavier it felt. Tien had always liked this exercise, especially during his youth whenever Tao or his brother Shin decided to make him feel bad that day.
The little micro management of his Ki always helped distract him from his issues. He had to strengthen his shin and thigh for a kick but still put just enough aura in his other leg so that his opponent wouldn't be able to sweep it easily if they got the chance. Or how when he strengthened his fist he still had to carefully put aura in the right parts of his arm so that it wouldn't crumble if his knuckles met with someone else's.
The ki flowing through his body would always calm him down, as managing it in the manner took up too much of his enjoyment and concentration to focus on anything else. Not that he had any bad issues to deal with nowadays.
Instead of just standing, he began throwing out attacks. First he started with basic punches. Jabs and crosses being thrown at highspeeds.
He began switching it up with hooks and uppercuts, back hands and palm strikes with such precision and timing that he left very few openings in his form, openings that only masters of martial arts would be able to even see much less exploit.
The air caused by the fast strikes caused the water beneath Tien to sway violently.
After that exercise, he took a moment to compose himself. After several breathing exercises he began the two exercises again.
An hour passed as he repeated these two techniques, before finally nodding to himself.
"I'd say that's enough warming up…" He began levitating. "Let's start with shadow sparring."
He began slowly like in his warm up, gradually gaining speed and zipping through the air, never staying in the same spot for more than a few seconds. His aura almost perfectly aligned to make his punches and kicks more powerful.
Sweat dripped from his forehead as his movement speed became fast enough to break the sound barrier, making his body heat up.
He came to a stop after about an hour of intense, blindingly fast sparring.
"Okay…" He breathed out, his heart pounding from the adrenaline. He walked over to the grassy area and sat down, breathing out a sigh as he decided to take a break.
'Back to what I was thinking before… I should be sure to change my strategy for each fight, never keeping things the same. My opponents will be thrown off and won't know what to expect that way.'
He scratched his chin in contemplation, closing his eyes and adjusting himself from where he sat.
'For it to be at its most effective, I need to analyze each of my potential opponents, and what fighting methods would be most effective against them. I also can't forget to make back up strategies, especially with how quickly opponents like Goku can change their own strategies on the fly…'
Goku in particular, should he beat Krillin, would be a frustrating opponent to fight. He had known him since he was 15 and even back then he was wildly unpredictable in combat.
He used everything he had to his advantage, all of his limbs to his head, even his teeth weren't always off the picture (Although that particular bite was usually reserved for life or death scenarios so Tien didn't think much of it).
Not to mention the man had only improved dramatically since then, his skill practically incomparable to how it is now.
Indeed… A very frustrating opponent.
As he began trying to think up ideas for a new aura technique before his break ended, he hoped that he would have better luck against Krillin.
The early morning sun rose over the sea, creating a beautiful reflection along the ocean. A small island containing but a few palm trees and a small house with a red roof.
Inside of the house, Marron groaned as she woke up, a hand softly shaking her.
"Sweetie, time to wake up~!"
Recognizing the speaker, she flipped over while putting the pillow on her face. "Daddy, no…"
"Aww okay…" Her father conceited quickly. "I guess you won't get those chocolate pancakes then."
The result was immediate, the pillow flying into the air and hitting the ceiling as the little girl clambered up, tripping over herself before continuing like it was nothing. "I'mgoingI'mgoing!"
Krillin laughed and followed after his child.
The little girl reached the table, leaping onto a pillow for her to sit down on and almost immediately began digging in.
…Or she would have, if her mother hadn't caught her mid jump, holding her up by the scruff.
"Noooo!" Marron whined, feebly trying to free herself.
"Manners first, young lady." 18 reminded her, not batting an eye.
"Yes mom…" Marron pouted, bringing her hands together for a quick prayer. "There. Can I PLEASE eat now."
"Yes, yes go ahead." 18 smirked, placing her down and watching fondly as her little girl began consuming the pancakes with gusto.
Roshi, to the side, simply watched the family interaction fondly. He wondered if he had been like that when he was younger…
"Consider it a reward for doing such a good job with your studies yesterday sweetie." Krillin ruffled her hair.
"Today mom and dad are gonna be training extra hard for the tournament." Krillin continued, starting with his own meal. "Make sure to cheer me on alright?"
"Okay daddy." She said, her mouth full. "I'll pray so that mommy doesn't beat you up."
Krillin let out a nervous chuckle, while 18 raised a brow smirking. Master Roshi simply bellowed out a laugh.
"Seems you got your work cut out for you, huh boy?" Roshi brought a hand to his beard.
"Are you sure you shouldn't stay out of the tournament?" Krillin remarked, squinting his eyes at his master playfully. "You might hurt your back, old man…"
Marron giggled watching Roshi's offended expression.
WHile everyone ate their breakfast, Marron patted her belly while laying on her mother's knees, the little girl asked a question toward Master Roshi.
"Master Roshi, you're gonna fight Gon, right?"
"That's right." Roshi nodded, calmly eating his rice. "Are you gonna cheer me on?"
"Yeah." She nodded, looking at the ceiling. "But Gon's really nice. He told me about animals, so don't beat him up badly, okay?"
"Of course, of course. I'll make sure to take it easy on the young fella." Roshi reassured her.
"Are you sure you're the one who has to take it easy?" 18 side glanced him. "I sensed great power emanating from that boy."
"I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." Roshi argued. "Sure he may be from some other earth with higher gravity or whatever, but I haven't slacked off either these past few years."
From what Goku had told him about the children, it seemed like he had taken in a trio of prodigies, the two boys more so than the girl.
They seemed to have performed spectacularly against Goku during their battle, Killua even managing to land a hit through his teamwork with Gon's technique.
Upon hearing of that feat, Roshi became quite intrigued by the two. He couldn't wait to see what Gon would put him through.
Marron picked herself up, suddenly feeling bored. "I'm gonna go play. Thanks for the food!"
She ran off, the three adults watching her fondly.
About an hour and a half of running around, building things in the sand and hanging out with Turtle, Marron decided to go see if her parents, as well as the old master had begun training.
She walked toward the front of the house to see that, right in front of the door, their parents were indeed sparring, her mother throwing out fierce kicks at her father who was barely ducking and dodging.
"Mommy! Don't hit daddy's privates!" She yelled and giggled.
Her parents laughed a little, Krillin making a fake gesture of backing off and covering his family jewels.
"Don't worry honey. Mommy will be extra careful." Her mother winked at her before going back to keeping Krillin on the ropes.
Taking to the air, Krillin evaded a sweep from his wife and threw out rapid kicks at her head, which managed to evade or block.
She attempted to counter by throwing a punch, only to fall to the ground and attempt his own leg sweep, which missed as she lifted her foot just in time to avoid it.
Marron admired how her father was able to make up for his lack of height by using his skill. It honestly just made him so cool to her. Though she did still somewhat prefer her mother.
Her parents continued on, 18 once again gaining the advantage and making Krillin trip back, his back firmly in the sand as he scratched his head.
"In terms of skill you surpass me." She heard her mother say. "It's raw power that puts the difference between us, don't feel too bad."
"I know honey…" He said, taking her extended hand. "Thanks. After we're done with sparring, do you want me to help you with Ki control?"
"I'd appreciate that, thank you." she gave him a small smile, making him blush slightly.
The two went at it again, but Marron decided to go see what Master Roshi was up to. She wondered what kind of training a man as old as him was doing. She hoped he didn't strain himself.
Checking over the small island, she found him behind the house, sitting there aimlessly with his head tilted down, seemingly having fallen asleep while sitting cross-legged.
Marron knew that wasn't the case. She was smart (Her parents both told her she was) So she knew that he was meditating.
According to her, meditating helped make your ki stronger, and it was important to do it often. It could also help you calm down or fall asleep. At least, that's what always happened to Marron whenever she tried it…
She sometimes wondered about how old he was… If he was really as old as he often told her, she had no doubt in her tiny mind that his energy was strong. Maybe even as strong as her father's…
She also took note of the fact that he sort of looked like one of those stereotypical anime hermit mentors… She wondered if the strong old people archetype was inspired by him… Maybe he even appeared on TV once!
Admiring the old man a little more, she went back to see how her mother and father were doing.
It was a good thing that the little girl hadn't tried to walk any closer to the turtle hermit, or saw his front.
Contrary to what she had just thought, the old man was not in fact meditating but rather had his face buried in a dirty magazine, nose bleeding profusely when he turned the page.
He let out a perverted giggle while the turtle who watched him from a distance merely shook his head in disappointment.
Marron watched awestruck at her parents sparring match, their moves so fast that it was all a blur to her.
Her mother was obviously winning, but she was nice enough to hold back for her father to just barely be able to keep up.
She secretly hoped that one day she could be strong and cool like them.
Vegeta stood in the middle of the gravity chamber in his work out clothes. He was doing some light warm ups by dodging lasers from some of Bulma's drones.
It had come to a point where dodging them at this level of gravity was practically second nature to the prince, his head reflexively moving out of the way as he felt the heat from a laser whiz past his cheek.
Various of his limbs moved so fast that it was almost as if they had never moved at all. Only someone with superhuman sight would be able to catch the faint afterimages left behind. The reason the gravity was so low was because a certain young boy was going to train with him today.
He continued on like this for a while before a knocking came from the door of the chamber.
He called out the command for the drones to stop and went to answer the door. He was met with the sight of his young son in his own training uniform carrying a specialised water container made by his mother for withstanding high gravity., grinning proudly at his father.
"Sorry I'm late dad! Had to finish up those last few problems!"
Vegeta nodded curtly, moving aside to let his son in.
"That woman is no slouch boy. As such don't expect any leniency during this week of training." He said with his usual no nonsense attitude.
"Yes sir! I'm ready."
The older Saiyan moved to give his son space, the young boy straining slightly against the gravity.
"Warm up and get used to the gravity. I will continue training alone until you are ready for sparring. Understood?"
"Ye-yes sir…" trunks groaned against the intense gravity.
Nodding, Vegeta returned to his training. Trunks watched his father a little before beginning his own warm up.
He began by doing push ups, his bones and muscles creaking. His father had once told him that, due to his hybrid nature, he had the potential of surpassing him and Goku.
While this had motivated him and Goten, he had trouble seeing it become a reality.
To Trunks, there was no one stronger or more capable in a fight than his father and Goku (except for maybe Majin Buu, but Trunks saw him as too lazy to mention…)
As such hearing that information come out of him of all people had filled him with a combined sense of eagerness and insecurity.
Whenever he saw his father and Goku fight, it felt like he was staring at a pillar that could never be climbed due to how high it was.
He switched from pushups to start doing sit ups.
As much as he disliked admitting it, he wasn't sure if he could beat Goku when he grew up either…. The man was his father's rival. A rival that Vegeta himself had enormous difficulty against…
For many years, their rivalry had motivated his father into becoming as strong as he is now. It was Vegeta's intense passion for beating him that drove him to near death during his training, as told by his mother.
So while Vegeta was indeed what Trunks wanted to aspire to when he was older, the true pinnacle of martial arts and battle prowess that he would need to defeat to prove himself was Son Goku himself.
Trunks finished his sit ups and rolled onto his hands, jumping into a handstand. He began shakily walking around the chamber, occasionally glimpsing as his father zipped around the facility, not showing any signs of slowing down or even of fatigue.
Back to his train of thought, overall he would say that he liked Goku.
Despite his intense rivalry with his father, he knew the two were on good terms. Goku and his mother on the other hand had been friends since they were children. It showed as whenever Trunks saw them interacting, it was almost like watching siblings banter to each other, not unlike Gohan and Goten.
Goku was incredibly friendly, supportive, strict when needed but he never went overboard. He could serve as both a friend and a very effective mentor when he needed to. He's also ridiculously skilled in martial arts, undoubtedly having even better technique than his own father, who could only match him in power and strength. Not that it was by much though!
Some days, Trunks almost thought of him as a fun uncle.
Another note that made him bitter is that, while he would never admit it, he was also jealous of him and his children for how good they were with animals… Seriously, it was like, one pat on the head was enough to get a vicious, man eating T Rex to die for them.
Just how did they do it?!
Trunks completed his lap around the chamber, putting his feet in the ground and then proceeding to back flip, sweat flying through the motions.
He continued like this, while pacing himself and making sure he took it slowly, not wanting to get sick. It helped that he hadn't eaten anything recently.
His arms and legs wobbled a little as he completed his last few, falling on his butt as soon as the lap was finished.
He huffed, taking a minute to catch his breath. The gravity still weighed heavily, but he felt like he had adjusted himself enough. He took a sip from his water bottle before standing up, ready to begin training with his father.
"Daad~! I'm ready!"
Seeing Trunks beginning to approach him, Vegeta halted his training and turned to his son before crossing his arms.
"Today we're going to test for just how long you can maintain the Super Saiyan transformation while fighting me." Vegeta explained, cracking his neck. "Don't hold back. Like I said I won't be making this easy for you."
"Ye-yes sir!"
He hurriedly entered his battle stance, his golden aura enveloping his young form as he stared intently at his father.
The fact that Vegeta looks as relaxed as ever, even when positioning himself for a fight, spoke volumes of his confidence that Trunks wouldn't be ankle to harm him. He didn't even bother going Super Saiyan to amuse him.
It was the brutal honesty of the gap in power between the two.
"Well?" Vegeta raised a brow. "Are you ready?"
"Ye-yeah!" Trunks grit his teeth into a grin. "Here I come, dad!"
He jumped toward his father, throwing out a barrage of attacks which were all easily dodged at incredible speeds.
Vegeta ducked under one of his kicks and countered with an uppercut, sending Trunks flying away.
Trunks backflipped and then bounced back toward his father, only for his kick to go right through the man.
He was just barely able to turn around and block Vegeta's backhand, grabbing it in time and flipping over the air. He attempted an axe kick which countered with a punch, again, sending him away.
Skidding to a stop, Trunks fired multiple ki blasts, which unsurprisingly served him little. As his father was deflecting or avoiding the attacks, he circled from the other side with a punch ready.
As soon as his father turned around, he smirked, ducking under his fist and firing a ki blast the other way before enging him in combat.
The energy ball circled the chamber and was just about to hit Vegeta's back. Vegeta merely scoffed and ducked under it, allowing it to hit his son.
Trunks staggered back before being met with a punch to the gut. He landed hard and coughed before shakily getting back up.
He didn't wait for any consolation. His father just didn't do that. Not that he was heartless or anything, (He did once guilt trip him into taking him into an amusement park.) He was just socially awkward. Plus Trunks felt he was too old to cry.
He bounced back to gain distance, before launching himself into another barrage.
From her screen, Bulma watched her son and husband duking out and she sighed wistfully. She hoped they didn't go too overboard. She had just recently fixed it up a month ago. If they broke it again she planned to make them take her shopping.
Oh and what a shopping trip it would be. She even planned to stay even longer than she needed to just to make them pay.
Metaphorically of course because she was the one who was actually going to pay for the repairs.
She took a sip of her soda and sighed dejectedly. After hearing the story of how the three kids had been transported here, she was heavily disappointed that the machine that sent them here did not come with them.
"Truly a shame…" Bulma groaned, spinning in her chair.. She would pay a lot to examine something like that.
And she didn't even feel like building one cause it didn't serve any purpose. Like, what on earth would she even use it for other than bragging rights? She sure as hell wouldn't sell that in fear of it getting into the wrong hands.
It's just… Whenever she hears about some fantastical invention like that, she just wants to take it apart to understand how it works. A passing interest, nothing more.
She turned back to the monitor to watch her family one last bit before heading back to work.
This time it was Vegeta who was on the offensive, Not cutting Trunks any slack as their boy was forced to just barely dodge and block his fierce onslaught of attacks.
Trunks continued to try and back away only for Vegeta to quickly close the gap between them.
He was keeping it easy, only using punches.
…Sure they were really fast punches but at least he didn't have to manage kicks either.
Skidding back from one of the blows, Trunks gasped for air when his father appeared behind him and chopped his neck, sending him to the ground.
Trunks' vision became blurry. His limbs felt like jelly due to the combination of stress he felt from the gravity while sparring with vegeta. He began pacing his breathing and stood still in an attempt to shake it off and get back to battling.
As soon as he wobbily made it back to his feet, his vision cleared just enough to see his father holding up a palm.
"Enough. You've lost." He said bluntly.
Trunks' eyes squinted in confusion. He could still fight, so why…
He took a breath in realisation and quickly checked his hair, quickly noticing that it no longer had its spiky sensation.
"Ugh! Darn…" Trunks groaned, falling to his knees. He knew it was inevitable, but felt disappointed in himself at the fact that he wasn't able to last even a little longer. Although getting hit in the nerves would make you lose concentration, he supposed…
Vegeta walked over to Trunks and extended his hand, which the young lavender haired boy gladly took.
"Take a rest and then continue training by yourself." Vegeta instructed. "Let me know when you're ready for another round."
"Ok." Trunks heaved, slumping in disappointment. "…Thanks, Dad."
Trunks proceeded to do as his father said, going back to his corner of the area and taking another sip from his water bottle.
The immense pressure that he had just felt left no doubt in his mind that he would be able to come on top during his match with 18.
Even knowing that, butterflies still made their way into his stomach when he remembered that, should he beat 18, it would be his father who he would have to face next.
His heart was filled with both excitement and slight apprehension.
A/N
I decided to write the POV of Trunks and Marron because I want to practice writing child characters. Do you guys think I did a good job portraying them?
Next two chapters are probably gonna be more training POV's of each group just to expand a little more on everyone's progress.
I hope you guys enjoyed reading this. See you all in the next chapter of Dragon Hunter ZX!