~Raze's Journey;Director's Cut Chapter 9~
Raze sneezed, "Whew! Woah! That was wild. Felt some kind of deja vu…" He'd just finished cleaning the dishes and was just heading to see what Brass was up to.
'Man, those kids can really eat a lot! Reminds me of well… me!' He thought while heading back toward the ladder. He noticed Ken and Kira just looking out the window watching stars fly by.
'Probably should make sure they're doing good.' He also wanted to hear about how much they liked his cooking. That was imperative. So, he intercepted them.
"Hey! What'd you both think of the food?" He questioned the twins who looked at him inquisitively.
"Food good!" Kira exclaimed back as Ken held a laugh back.
"Yeah, I loved it!" Ken said in agreement with his sister.
Raze couldn't help but smile at that, "Good to hear. Have either of you seen Brass?" They looked at each other before Kira pointed upwards.
Ken added onto that, "Brass, Kiryu, and Cloud were heading up the ladder last we saw. The other kids were already up there after eating." He said as his eyes widened, "Oh yeah! Something about training was mentioned." He said as Raze's interest was piqued.
Clenching his fists, Raze felt the fire of a good training session coming to mind, "Sounds like a good time. You two could probably use some too." Raze said to them as Ken scratched his head awkwardly.
"Ummm… I…" Ken uttered as the memories of the last month came to the frontal lobe of his mind. He had been through a literal hell scape and back just to rescue his sister. Turning to her, Ken felt a tug on his heart. Perhaps this was the chance he needed.
"Yeah!" Ken shouted as Raze was taken aback by the sudden outburst, "Uh… I mean. I should get stronger. I don't want this to ever happen again. Thanks to my weakness, my sister got taken and put through horrible things." He said while clenching his hands tightly, "Actually, I was going to ask you about that anyway, Raze. Please train me." He put both of his palms together as if to pray and bowed to Raze as a sign of respect.
Raze was in awe at his courage, "Wow, I certainly didn't expect that. That's one hell of a step to take forward." He put his own palms together and bowed to Ken much to his surprise, "I'd be honored to take you on as a trainee. I'll try my best to mold you into a proud warrior." He looked up as he heard a sobbing sound.
Raze saw Ken wiping his face on his sleeve and decided to step over to him, "Hey, no need to cry. You're going to be a really strong guy that people will look up to. If they see you cry, how will they know it's going to be okay?" He asked Ken who quickly nodded, trying to hold back his tears as he looked up quickly. A stray tear still in his eye, Ken smiled as Kira grabbed his arm.
"Big strong Bro! You can do it!" She said as he smiled at her.
Raze even had to chuckle a bit at that, "You got that right, Kira. He'll definitely be able to take on the world when I'm done with him." Raze was overly eager at the prospect of having someone to teach, so eager in fact that he appeared to be on fire.
Ken realized just how intimidating this saiyan man looked, 'C- Can I even keep up with this guy?' He wondered as loud crashing sound was heard from above.
Raze looked up at the ceiling, "Woah, Brass must be really putting them through the ringer." He said as Kira spoke up.
"That feel like Cloud!" She said while leaving Ken and Raze behind to climb up the ladder. She had to go check on her friends. Ken looked up at Raze with a swift nod and Raze smiled giving him a thumbs up. With that, they both headed up to see the commotion.
~With Brass~
"Get up already. You can't fly if you keep hitting the ground like that." Brass stated as Cloud picked himself up quickly.
"Yes, Brass Sir!" He said while trying to focus his energy.
Brass felt Cloud's ki beginning to spike up a bit. It seemed that throwing him around was actually doing the saiyan some good. Brass knew Cloud would be flying by the end of the night if he kept going. He also noticed that Raze and the twins were invading his flying teaching lesson by the sounds they made rather than their power.
"Another volunteer? Good. We'll need all the help we can get. Perhaps we'll be able to teach everyone of these kids how to fly by the hour." Brass snorted as Raze walked up.
"Yeah, I guess that I could help you. Just don't blame me if some of these kids get a little competitive and start bothering you once you wanna sleep after they learn to fly." Raze retorted as Brass shook his head.
Brass smirked, "Right, I'll train them so well that they'll be able to kick your ass with no issue." Raze leaned forward slightly.
"Sure. I wanna see that. Your method must be pretty good. Especially if you let the enemy catch you off guard with sound grenades…" Raze jabbed back which made Brass get a bit more heated.
"That's a cheap response!" Brass shouted back and Raze nodded.
"You're correct, but it's accurate." Raze said as Brass shook his head.
"That's… Not the point. So, you'll help me train these kids?" Brass asked as Raze nodded.
"Sure. Besides, I've got a pupil right here." He patted Ken on the head, "He wants to get strong and I like that. I'm sure Ken has a lot of potential." From the crowd, Kiryu looked on in jealousy.
'No way! I'm way stronger than Ken!' Kiryu quickly left behind his doubts about Brass to focus on the here and now, 'I'll get stronger too!' He pushed through the crowd of children with a new goal in mind.
As he reached the edge of the throng of children, he shouted, "Hey! I'm strong too!" Which caught Raze and Ken's attention, especially Brass who gave him a narrow look that slowed his progression a slight bit, "Errr, I mean… I want to train with you guys!"
The silence was palpable until Cloud hit the floor with a resounding smack. Which made everyone jump slightly. Kira rushed over to see if Cloud was okay while Brass just shrugged.
Brass looked over at Kiryu again, "Sure kid. Just make sure you don't get messed up." he lifted his hand to a point on his back, using his thumb as a makeshift pointer finger, "Or hit the floor like Cloud." The aforementioned saiyan made a grunt of pain while Kira kept patting him on the shoulder.
Kiryu was still burnt about being called just a kid, "Hey, Why don't you call him a kid too?!" Kiryu said as Raze butted in.
"What's with that attitude?" Raze asked as Kiryu backed down slightly.
"I just…" Brass narrowed his eyes and Kiryu piped down again.
Brass then grinned, "You know, if you have something to prove. You can always prove yourself in a fight. Ken, come take care of the light work." As Brass said this, Ken shook his head in surprise.
"W- What?! Me?" Ken asked like he hadn't fully heard Brass.
Brass nodded eagerly, "If this Kid wants my respect. He should earn it properly. If he can fight you on a level playing field. Then I'll refer to him by name and if he can't… I'll downgrade it." His goal was simple, get as much training in for them as he could.
Raze understood instantly, "Ohhoho! I like that. Good thinking man!" He smirked at Ken and Kiryu.
"We'll turn up the gravity by three times. Should be efficient for you two." Raze said while walking over to the side, "All the kids here should go to this corner of the ship. We have a strong barrier that's pretty much see through. They added it and gave two different gravity controls for this ship. It's a special model." Raze said as Kiryu's eyes widened.
"This model had only twenty made in existence. This ship was way bigger than the others in this class though." Kiryu clearly knew a thing or two about this Capsule ship, "How did you get such a rare model? Only important figures ever got their hands on it. It was a special order from Capsule Corporation itself!" Kiryu had completely forgotten about his earlier challenge.
Raze scratched his head awkwardly, "Heh… Well, let's just say that it belonged to my dad. That's really all I can say." At that revelation, Kiryu's mind exploded in thought.
He was putting pieces together, "Your dad? Your dad…" Memories of his late father passed through his mind. He had talked about being a medic on the front lines and about people he'd healed. The name Raze had probably come up in some of those conversations. No, they definitely did for sure!
"Your last name is Vestal…" Kiryu's mind opened up.
~Within those memories~
A younger Kiryu of about five years was looking over several blueprints for medical devices that were currently in development. He was enamored with these things as he'd heard many tales of the heroic people on the front lines who fought and were saved from death by these miracles of nature. He poured over them whenever his father would forget to put them up.
He was particularly interested in the Capsule Corporation catalogs. That place had helped pioneer space technology and bring it to a new era within the last hundred years. Even the Galactic Patrol were said to have ties with them. Kiryu poured over tales of other kinds, such as the legendary Goku and Vegeta. Two saiyans forever remembered in the annals of history.
'I wanna be like Dad when I grow up, but on the front lines!' Kiryu's goal was to become a strong warrior that was looked up to just like his heroes.
"Kiryu?" Kiryu turned to his father, slowly walking into the room with a smile on his face, "Looking over these again, I see? You've definitely got it in your blood, but you should be careful about this curiosity. Fighting for a cause is good, but sometimes it becomes… Unwarranted." His father warned, but Kiryu brushed it aside.
"Dad, I kinda wanna be in the military though. It sounds great and being respected would be cool." Kiryu said as his father merely patted him on the shoulder.
"Son, I wouldn't say you couldn't. The thing is… It's a tough job. The people that fought in the battles of the past did so that in the future, their kids could live in a world without suffering." He turned to look over the posters and propaganda that had been used to get people to join in the Great War of Ages.
"King Vestal managed to save us in a time of crisis during the first War that was against the Dark King. He had a very specialized group and was extremely proficient." He ruffled his son's hair which made Kiryu struggle a bit, "The Great War of Ages was the one I participated in. I saw many people die. I wouldn't want you to suffer that fate, but I would still support you in the future if you wanted to follow that dream." His father rationalized that this dream of Kiryu's was but a childs in nature. He would more than likely grow out of it.
Kiryu walked away from his dad, looking over at the wanted posters. He saw one in particular that he'd seen plenty of times whenever he snuck in this room, "Who's that?" It was an obvious answer, the name was on the paper.
"Oh, that's just Raze Vestal. The King's son." Kiryu's fathers voice had become a bit more cold saying that name.
"Oh? That's cool. What did he do to get such a cool poster?" Kiryu asked innocently.
"Well, let's just say that he did great things and something quite horrible before disappearing five years ago. Either way, he earned his bounty. Some said the King was playing favorites when he gave him a lower bounty than some." His father turned away, "Others think because of the role he played in The Great War of Ages that he was given a reduced bounty. I'm not sure what to believe." He wanted to leave this conversation quickly.
So, he continued before Kiryu could ask more about it, "At this moment, I do believe we should go get something to eat. I'll clean this place up later. Okay, son?" His son eagerly nodded as he jumped up to leave the space.
As Kiryu's father went to shut the door, he looked one last time at the poster before finally closing it with a click.
~Back to Present~
'My dad said he did something horrible, but he doesn't seem like someone who would do horrible things.' Kiryu shook his head as he realized that Ken was now facing him and that Raze and them were watching from the side now.
Kiryu looked over at Ken and got ready, 'I don't have time to process all that. For now, I'll just focus on getting the respect I really want!' If fighting Ken would get Brass to call him by his name, then he would do it.
Raze spoke up, "By the way, don't go too crazy! This is just a little training meant to warm the spirit!" Raze finished as Brass scoffed.
"I'd say they should fight as long as they can. This should be treated like life or death." Brass said as Raze shook his head and facepalmed.
"There's no reason for them to go all out." Raze frowned as Brass smirked, "You could at least pretend you're not getting excited about seeing two kids knocking each other out." Raze sighed with a sweatdrop as Brass grinned even harder.
"I could, but I'm enjoying this. That kid is a loudmouth." Brass's thoughts were still going over what happened earlier.
Kira hopped up to the energy barrier like substance, "Uhh! This tough, need cheer for someone!" She said with confliction while Cloud groaned.
Cloud sighed inwardly, 'Gotta help her speak a bit better.' Though, he was more focused on seeing the potential fight coming up than that.
~Ken and Kiryu's Bout~
"Um… Are you sure I have to fight?" Ken asked as Raze nodded, but gave no vocal response.
Kiryu put up his fists, remembering how they had both tried and failed to fight off the robot from before. He had felt Ken's power up close at that time and was confident that he could get one up on Ken. So, he sized him up and realized what he needed to do first. Leaping toward Ken, Kiryu landed before him and proceeded to unleash a flurry of blows. A punch that Ken avoided, a kick that was simply pushed aside, and multiple other punches that only connected with Ken's palms.
Ken decided to retaliate, but only a little punch that was a bit slower than his usual only for Kiryu to subsequently jump above his head landing to the side. Completely dodging Ken's low ceiling punch. Ken was unsure how to proceed at this point. He had stayed pretty much entirely defensive for that barrage of attacks.
'I've only fought against people that have attacked me personally or hurt my sister. Kiryu isn't even someone I'd ever considered fighting.' Kiryu seemed to be moving toward Ken slightly which cut off his inner dialogue, 'I need to beat him nicely.' Ken decided while Kiryu continued inching closer.
Kiryu was cautious, he was holding back most of his power through that exchange, 'Can I even call that an exchange? He pretty much stopped every one of my attacks. Is he stronger than I thought?' Those were questions for later as he moved just slightly closer only to be blind sided as Ken made his own move.
"Wha- agh!?" Kiryu yelled out as Ken made contact with a light tap to his stomach. Of course, a light tap for Ken was still much stronger than most. It made Kiryu stagger backward with a bit of pain evident on his face. Kiryu grunted and prepared to charge a ki blast. As the light emanated from his hand, Ken shot to his left and Kiryu fired it off. A robot drone built specifically to make ki dissipate was on hand, but Ken thought quickly. He grabbed it with both hands much to everyone's shock.
This action stopped his momentum as it instead sent him flying backward. As soon as Ken's feet touched the ground, he was able to solidify his body and stop the pulsing energy that sizzled in his hands. Ken focused as his white aura flared up. Beginning to crush the energy into his hand, the ball began to turn a completely different color.
Ken smiled at the shocked boy standing before him, "I'm going to return it now!" He did just that by sending the ball blasting back at Kiryu with a swing of his arm.
"What?!" Kiryu shouted while moving backward at incredible speed, but the orb seemed fixated on him. Continuing to follow him even as he ran up the side of the spacecraft.
Raze whistled, "That's different. Hey Brass, is he using some kind of spirit ball?" He asked as the namekian shrugged.
"Whatever it is, why didn't he use it on Kanaasa?" Brass questioned the wild haired saiyan.
"That's a good point. You make a good point, Brass." Raze said to the alabaster colored namekian who shrugged in response.
Kiryu turned around and radiated his aura outward, "Anything you can do!" Kiryu caught the blast, but he underestimated the amount of ki that was inside it, causing him to struggle, "URGH- I can! DO-URGH! BETTER!" He yelled out as the blast overtook him in an explosion that shook the ship slightly.
"No! KIRYU!" Kira yelled from behind the barrier.
Ken was actually worried for once, 'Did I do too much?' He hadn't had any moment to use that particular attack considering that everything and everyone he'd fought against had been much too strong for it to be effective.
"Perhaps we should stop them, Brass?" Raze asked as Brass leaned back against the ship.
"Nah, let them get their energy out. Just heal them later." Brass responded with as Raze sighed openly.
Kiryu hit the floor, but he was still smiling away as he got back up immediately, "I'm not done yet! That hardly did anything." He got in a different stance that he'd learned from his father.
Ken did the same, but it looked more ferocious for some reason and his eyes narrowed for effect, "Okay. Let's go again." He said in return.
Kiryu leaned forward, but this time it was Ken that led the fight. Running straight toward Kiryu, whose eyes widened as he leapt to his immediate right only for Ken to shift his own direction and completely disappear. But Kiryu wasn't falling for it. A fist came from thin air with more force in it, but he shifted his head to make the trajectory of the attack fly just to the side of his cheek. Kiryu could feel the wind off of it as he grabbed Ken's arm and pulled him causing Ken to hop forward awkwardly.
Kiryu delivered his own retaliation with an all encompassing kick to Ken's right cheek which stunned the boy. Kiryu followed up with a punch to the stomach, making Ken grunt in pain and the food inside to stir up. As Ken flew backward, he began to spin backward in midair before finally landing on his feet. Yet, the attack didn't stop.
Kiryu had disappeared while Ken was distracted, reappearing behind the stunned kid. He kicked the leg holding Ken's weight. He slipped up and panicked as Kiryu slammed him in the jaw with his fist which sent him blasting backward, only to this time land on his back. He continued sliding along the floor until he inevitably flipped over on his front.
Kiryu grinned, "I'm good!" Brass looked genuinely impressed by Kiryu's move. It was incredibly clever. Raze felt that the fight wasn't over yet. Kiryu was distracted, trying to impress his audience, but Ken was completely gone as he turned. The only thing to signify he'd been over there was simply pulsing air.
"What?! He's just gone?!" Kiryu let his ki flow out, trying to feel for anything. Yet, it was too late. Just out of the corner of his eye, Ken appeared with a strong right jab to his face. Kiryu couldn't completely perceive what had just happened, but the pain was faster than perception anyway. The force of the blow sent him flying through the air.
Kiryu tried to recover quickly and do a flip like his contemporary, but Ken was already there before he could make the move. Clenching both his hands together and slamming them into Kiryu's stomach. The reaction was immediate, all the air left Kiryu's lungs as he crashed into the floor with so much force that his bones acted like rubber bouncing him off the floor. The crack was audible from his skeletal structure, but Ken's mind was moving far quicker as he kicked Kiryu from below into his back which sent him blasting toward the top of the training room. The wind off the kick made Ken's hair flow up and then he kicked off the floor himself to meet Kiryu in the air.
Kiryu saw the ceiling coming and with a grunt, he fired an air volley of ki from his hands which made him flip backwards in midair before landing on the ceiling. He saw Ken ever approaching him quicker, but Kiryu launched himself downward at Ken instead of trying to avoid him. When they met in midair, a clash of fists and kicks fast as lightning sounded like gunshots firing off. Both of them took quite a few hits before ending their clash by kicking away from each other at once to land on the floor again.
Ken felt a bit winded by this exchange as he huffed a bit. Kiryu was looking that much worse for wear as he breathed heavily and sweat trailed down his head. Brass was enjoying this from the sideline, he wondered just how much potential they could have. Raze was intent on seeing how his pupil would pull through. Kira was worried for both of them. Cloud wondered when it would be over and hoped that Kiryu might pull off a win.
Kiryu started to laugh a little, "Ha! I can't use energy if you can just send it back." Ken nodded in agreement as Kiryu leaned down as his body seemed to disagree with continuing this bout.
Ken leaned his own head back, looking at the lights on the ceiling, "Okay. I give up." Ken said as Kiryu's eyes widened.
"Uh what?" In Kiryu's mind, he knew that he would probably lose in this fight. Kiryu was running out of real options to shut it down. He also felt a distinct difference in Ken's energy and his own which was lowering far more than Ken's. So, why?
"I said, "I giv-" Ken was interrupted by Kiryu immediately.
"I know what you said! Why though?" Kiryu asked as Ken huffed.
He moved his head down from looking up at the ceiling, "Because, if you win. Brass has to respect you. I think you win because I can't or won't fight anymore. Cool right?" He asked Kiryu who was taken aback.
But not as taken aback as Brass was, "Really?! But it was getting better!" Raze put a hand on his shoulder.
Raze smiled, "Well, guess we don't have to stop them after all, right buddy?" He asked his compatriot as Brass shook his head in frustration. Raze proceeded to release the barrier which made Kira fall forward to her own surprise. The other kids who had watched that display were incredibly psyched and all of them ran out to congratulate both of the little warriors in their midst.
Kiryu was more than happy to accept all this praise and though his ears were ringing. He thought back to what he'd remembered earlier, 'That Raze guy seems nice, but something is off. I just know my dad can't be wrong. Brass is suspicious too.' He wasn't going to let this go.
Kira ran over and pushed through the crowd to her brother, "Good job bro!" She said as he smiled with a bit of laughter thrown in. Raze joined in the laughter while Brass looked purple in the face. Ken was never going to finish the fight in the first place. Brass had been played.
In his mind, Brass was congratulating Ken, 'Touche, Ken…' He thought while Kiryu swept his misgivings aside to have the small victories in life.
"Well?" Kiryu asked the large white namekian.
Brass rolled his eyes, "Fine, Kiryu. Happy?"
"Yep!" No need for too much more to be said.
~End of Chapter~
To Anon9199: I'll try to go in order.
Chapter 3 Review: Raze became SSJ1 in the second part of the fight with XD-001. When he wants to show XD-001 just how much stronger he actually is, he goes SSJ2. I probably won't use power levels too much in this story. They'll only come up as needed because I really don't want to go off them all the time. There will be ways to tell who's the strongest at any given time through dialogue probably.
Chapter 4 Review: You know it. Gotta keep you coming back!
Chapter 5 Review: He respected Xeno at this point and especially once he fully grasped the situation at hand.
Chapter 6 Review: Ken's one cool character. He's been through the ringer before meeting Raze, so I figured he would have the most motivation to become Super Saiyan, but the power scaling wouldn't allow him an easy victory. No, he'll have to get stronger, but it's not a bad start. Kiryu is a cool little rival to have around and I hope for him to be here for a while yet. Maybe things will continue to develop as it goes along. Yes, it's a bit short for a prologue, I'm still working out the second arc and how I want to approach it. Stay tuned!
Chapter 7 Review: Cloud's going to get his respect. At least one day. Currently, he's stronger than Kira. As for being on Ken and Kiryu's level? Not yet. I can confirm we're in Universe 7, but this is the West Galaxy about 100 years later. I didn't think about that, but Goku JR is absolutely alive and more than likely a young adult by now. We'll see what happens for the rest of the proceedings, but meeting some old characters at some point isn't ruled out by any means.
Chapter 8 Review: Yes, Athena is creepier than I give her credit for. Her Drones can take hits, but maybe a hit from Raze or Brass would be a bit much. I'm glad you've enjoyed yourself up to this point. I hope to bring you entertainment for a while yet.
As for the usual... Please leave a review and tell me what you thought! Good or Bad, I'll hear it all and thanks again for reading!