Tenshinhan shot onward like an arrow, thrusting his hands that he positioned like striking vipers and rattling Muten Roshi's defenses. The old martial arts master evaded the first couple of strikes, however, the more stake Tenshinhan put into his advance, the more impossible defending from the wide-angle, speedy blitz of his pinching finger thrusts became.
The arms of the three-eyed martial artists became just a blur. Hefty strikes resonated throughout the body of the old martial arts master as Tenshinhan had struck him so many times that his opponent had lifted off the ground despite the impressive gravity that the pair had trained under. With a resonant shout, Tenshinhan slammed his open palm into Muten Roshi's abdomen. This forced all the air from the martial arts master's body and sent him flying into the air, weightless like a potato sack.
Seeing Muten Roshi bouncing off of the ceiling of the spaceship, something that made the entire spacecraft rattle and quake, Tenshinhan dashed forward in pursuit. Blinking right up to his airborne and flinched opponent, the three-eyed martial artist crashed a powerful downward strike before transitioning into a combination of roundhouse kicks and finishing his blinding offensive with a downward chop.
Seeing how his opponent had nearly cracked Muten Roshi's skull open, the old martial arts master rolled on his back and began stroking the bruise on the top of his scalp while Tenshinhan bowed to his opponent, thanking him for the sparring match. The spaceship door to another room opened up with Launch staggering out, in her blond-haired form, holstering a submachine gun and wet with red wine soaking her top and hair. The moment that the storage unit opened up, the powerful gravitational field de-activated.
"Can ya give me a moment of peace and quiet!? It's not enough that I have ta sit in this storage dump while you two are training, but then you go on and make the whole place shake and bounce around!" Launch grumbled before unleashing a barrage of bullets toward Muten Roshi who was still reeling after the beat down he took at the hands of Tenshinhan.
With an emotionless expression, Tenshinhan slipped in between Launch and Muten Roshi, swiping the bullets out of thin air effortlessly before blinking up to Launch's weapon and bending its barrel upward. Since Launch couldn't move her finger away from the trigger, the SMG burst into steel shrapnel in her hands and shattered into pieces from the malfunction. Tenshinhan stared at the blonde, staggering back with bruised and bleeding hands.
"You shouldn't fire your weapons indoors, Launch-san. It might damage something sensitive and important and put our entire mission into jeopardy," Tenshinhan scolded the woman who just collapsed on her rear and switched stares from her shaking hands back to Tenshinhan. Every time she looked at her hands, it felt like boundless heat building up in the oven of her chest but when the woman looked back up at Tenshinhan, she just growled and panted as she just couldn't release all that pent up wrath at this man.
"But you bastards duke it out all the time!" Launch objected.
"That may be so, but even if our strength vastly surpasses Earthling weaponry and military power, we have much greater control over our great power, unlike you or anyone else using a gun," Tenshinhan swiped his hand aside, shutting the woman's objection down. "If you're mad at us for training, you shouldn't have come along in the first place. Training under intense gravitational fields so that we are up to the Androids' challenge was a big part of why we left Earth. If you don't plan on training with us, you're just in the way."
"Ya… Ya dumbass!" Launch flipped out, flipping her hands in the air before strutting off to the service area of the spacecraft, kicking every gadget or metal box of junk and spare nuts and bolts that got in her way to vent her fury.
"Now, now, Tenshinhan, that's very mean of you to say…" Muten Roshi stood up, stroking his ancient back after feeling some reprieve from the potent pressure of gravity far surpassing that of Earth's or even the Otherworld's. "I for one enjoy Launch-san's company."
"That is because of your indecent qualities as a man interfering with your impeccable judgment as a martial artist," Tenshinhan replied with a solemn expression. "The truth of the matter is that Launch-san is holding us back and our training is already inefficient enough as it is. You may have kept up with your training, Muten Roshi-san, but we've already spent plenty of time just building you up on a level where you can be a stimulating challenge to me. A lot of our time is being wasted and I'm afraid I might not become strong enough to defeat that Android I've faced back on Earth, let alone its superiors."
It was only upon reflecting on that challenge back on Earth and his clash with the man that was once Colonel Silver of the Red Ribbon Army, and Commander Silver of the Silver Ribbon Army later, that Tenshinhan's stoic expression became corrupted with desperation. The two came at each other with neither warrior showing their true strength back on Earth, however, Tenshinhan had a feeling that he showed a lot more of his true strength than his opponent and he was still more on the receiving end of that encounter than the one dishing the hits out.
Tenshinhan didn't doubt it for a second. Had that match continued, given the Androids' infinite stamina in mind, he'd have undoubtedly ended up burning through his to the point of fatigue and damaging his own body, burned out and lost.
"May I make an observation, Tenshinhan-san?" Muten Roshi caressed his back while walking to the fridge to pull out some of the boxed lunches that Launch, while she was still blue-haired, prepared.
"Of course, Muten Roshi-san, I value your input greatly!" Tenshinhan bowed.
"Ever since you failed to bring Chiaotzu back to life, you've become obsessed with efficiency. In many ways, you've become like a machine yourself. Pushing away your bonds with your friends and distancing yourself from everyone, living your life to raise as many pupils and to transfer your knowledge into as many bright, young minds that you could. Almost like a conveyor belt that produces promising martial artists," Muten Roshi pointed out before cracking a can of soda open and flipping it up, letting the cool liquid wash down the rice cake he had just eaten.
"Is that wrong? Have you not devoted the latter half of your life toward imparting your knowledge to the next generation as well?" Tenshinhan raised his right eyebrow in confusion.
"Well… Something like that. However, I may not have imparted quite enough of my knowledge onto you as I'd have liked. You seem to have become utterly oblivious to the Turtle School way of life. I wouldn't say that you are living your life to the fullest right now. You're living almost as if you're inhabiting your body on borrowed time, and you have become obsessed with your mission of being the most efficient martial artist before you pass on," Muten Roshi objected before wrapping around a string of filleted salmon with his tongue and dragging it into his mouth off of the rice cake.
"I've become strong, however…" Tenshinhan objected. "The fact of the matter is that if I had faced Frieza today, I could stop him from killing Chiaotzu."
"Does it matter if he has already killed the man that you have always been? I'm not sure that Chiaotzu would prefer living having lost his best friend in the process," Muten Roshi calmly stated, seeing fury building up in Tenshinhan's eyes as the martial artist's body bulked up and began stressing his Hanfu robe from underneath.
"Chiaotzu would have preferred living!" Tenshinhan bellowed, exploding with the aura of the King Kai's Fist around him before charging at Muten Roshi. Almost as if he had been prepared for this offensive, Muten Roshi rolled backward and picked his cane up with his exposed toes, transferring it into his hands like a monkey. The old martial arts master extended his staff to press it against Tenshinhan's forehead and stop his outraged sparring partner, but Tenshinhan swatted it aside, breaking it in two.
"Then why don't you?" Muten Roshi's expression became sour as he stepped in with a perfect motion of avoiding Tenshinhan's punch while delivering a backhand step-in strike of his own. Roshi's hands became a blur as they moved with an impeccable mastery of martial arts, answering each one of the wrathful blows of his much more powerful and faster training partner. Roshi blinked away from Tenshinhan's vision, filling the spacecraft with his afterimages.
Back in his prime, Tenshinhan could have effortlessly seen through this maneuver. He had spent his entire youth learning how to counter every move of the Turtle School. Now, blinded by emotion and rage that he had kept pent up inside him for too long, every afterimage looked the same. A doppelganger glided across the floor, phasing through Tenshinhan while the warrior put up his guard. Another one struck him from behind, distracting the triplet of Tenshinhan's eyes while the true Muten Roshi imbedded his palm into Tenshinhan's back and then vanished in front of him with a stout standing push kick that left Tenshinhan sliding across the floor and smacking against the back wall.
"Incredible," Tenshinhan muttered. "Even when your opponent far surpasses you in power, your martial arts mastery is simply incredible. Not a single wasted movement, unmatched knowledge of what transpires inside of your opponent's mind at all times, and precision of motion as if your body truly calls each flowing motion, stance or attack your own."
"You are not wrong to give in to your emotions, Tenshinhan. You have neglected using your Hot-Red mode during our training even once because you were no longer in control over your own feelings. However, just as you shouldn't quash them entirely and bottle them up, try to use them as a tool and a guide and empower you and not as something that controls your moves," Muten Roshi replied.
Tenshinhan closed his eyes and breathed in, returning to Earth and the merry faces of his students. Letting the golden winds of happiness carry him along with those memories until the skies turned dark, and the air frozen static in his chest began pressing against it from inside. He saw the armies of machines and converted soldiers stamping the rice fields and blowing up buildings of his peaceful village, beating up on his students that had just been so happy to be together. Righteous wrath and passion for vengeance, pride in his own strength and ability to deliver said justice to those in need sparked a flame inside Tenshinhan.
His blood pumped fast and warm, Tenshinhan's skin swelled up as the sped-up metabolism squirted jets of vapor out from his overheated body that had been taxed to the point of self-imposed dehydration. A fiery aura boomed around him while Tenshinhan slipped out from his robe with a single, swift hand motion and flung it aside, opening his eyes and examining the long since forgotten fatigue and tension of the Hot-Red. Purging himself of that stressful oxygen, Tenshinhan blew out and canceled the Ki manipulation method at once, soothing his heart after confronting his feelings.
The three-eyed martial artist leaned down to pick his robe up from the ground and flipped it over his shoulder as he walked away toward the service section of the ship.
"Where are you going, Tenshinhan-san?" Muten Roshi wondered.
"I believe I owe Launch an apology," Tenshinhan answered. "I should not have been so strict with her. After all, she has come here guided by her own feelings and emotions. In that way, she may have shown greater mastery over herself than I did. I had never thought that I'd be learning something from Launch as well as you, Muten Roshi-san."
"Life is too wonderful and too full of these pretty little surprises to rush living," Muten Roshi's mustache tilted sideways to accompany the rising movement of his lip.
"Launch…" Tenshinhan felt like had looked all over the service wing of the ship, following the puny trail of Launch's very ordinary Ki signature all the way to a hi-tech greenhouse found inside the ship. Tenshinhan looked around, riding the wave of pleasant surprise that such a facility existed in this spacecraft.
"Tenshinhan-san…" Launch turned around with a high-pitched gasp. She had been tending to the flowers and vegetables that grew in this greenhouse alike, though now curly blue hair had been hanging over her shoulders and her frame had begun much slimmer from her bandit-like other-self.
"Ah… You've changed into your tranquil self. I wanted to apologize to your other half for being mean to her," Tenshinhan cleared his throat. "Do you maybe have a way of relaying my apology to her? Will she know if I apologize to you?"
"Oh… No, sorry, I'm afraid that we have no idea what happens to us when we're not in control…" Launch chuckled, almost as if she wasn't describing a complete lack of control over her own psyche and her body. "It has led us to so many odd situations in the past, though not all of them have been bad. We've also come to meet everyone because of those antics too, so I am grateful for this life we've led."
"Are you sure? I mean… Your other half can get quite violent and trigger-happy and has… Undoubtedly… Hurt many people," Tenshinhan staggered his way through words while stroking the back of his head.
"Oh… I haven't really thought of it that way. I've never really experienced what she's like and I've only gotten into trouble with the police because of what she's done. My other half used to have a nasty habit of getting into trouble and then triggering a sneeze so that I had to deal with the police…" blue-haired Launch chuckled to herself, covering up her mouth as she watered a plant that wriggled in gratitude for being tended to by a caring human hand.
"You're so kind and forgiving to someone who has caused you so much trouble. I am impressed, Launch," Tenshinhan complimented his traveling companion. "You know, you don't really have to prepare food for us. Bulma has kept the spaceship well-stocked before departure. She's stocked the storage unit with the exact supplies that the Room of Spirit and Time has that last two people for an entire year."
"Food? I don't recall preparing any food…" Launch pondered to herself. "That must be the other me. That's odd. Preparing food isn't really her thing. She must really like you!"
"D-Don't you?" Tenshinhan butted his fingers together with a light blush on his cheeks. He wasn't that experienced with these situations, as he had mostly tempered his body and had never truly attempted to withstand the tides of emotional warfare.
"Well… I rarely get to see you much. Somehow my other self hogs all that time for herself. Though I do like seeing you occasionally. Your face has become as welcome for me to see as that of Yamcha's, Krillin's, Goku's, or anyone else's," blue-haired Launch smirked and bent her head to the side in a cutesy way.
The entire greenhouse sank in a veil of red light while a croaking alarm raked at the pair's ears. It had been because of the signal that the radar had detected the Ultimate Dragon Ball in the nearest vicinity and the ship had been correcting its course to head straight in that direction. Tenshinhan rushed back to the main hall of the spaceship that led to the control panels that controlled the entire spacecraft.
"We're in luck, it seems," Muten Roshi nodded while staring at the control panels that have all displayed the identical warnings of the fact that the ship had detected the signal of an Ultimate Dragon Ball on a nearby planet. The ship stopped its flashing tear through the galaxy and began calmly hovering over the planet on which the Ultimate Dragon Ball was located.
"Oh, my! What a cute planet!" blue-haired Launch exclaimed, shrieking in glee as the ship hovered over a massive gaseous sphere of bubble gum pink while cottony white puffs decorated the planet's atmosphere from all directions.
"What are the conditions on this planet? Is it inhabited? How powerful are its residents?" Tenshinhan wondered. In the corner of his mind, he must have known that there were very few denizens of this universe still capable of challenging the Dragon Team after they overcame the challenge of Frieza, but there were planets that even the space tyrant stayed clear of for the longest time. It was just as possible that someone on this planet had some uncanny abilities that may have bypassed the need for high battle power.
"This is Planet Ephemeris. No space stations have any information about this planet and its conditions haven't been surveyed or recorded. It's a mystery planet." The ship's AI reported.
"A mystery planet?" Muten Roshi mumbled to himself, not at all glad to hear this.
"Are there even such planets?" Tenshinhan grumbled in disbelief. "I thought Bulma had accumulated an unmatched intelligence database on the universe for her space tourism ventures."
"Correct. King Vegeta has even provided Capsule Corps with all the knowledge found in any of Frieza Army space station databases and that of the Saiyans' own intelligence of various worlds they've conquered or explored. Neither Frieza nor the Saiyans have ever entered Planet Ephemeris," the ship's AI said in a mechanical voice.
"Well, we need that Ultimate Dragon Ball in any case. We cannot afford to skip this planet," Muten Roshi sighed. "Let's just hope that the others are having an easier time gathering the Ultimate Dragon Balls."