10 - Spirit Control
May 29th, Age 767
We appeared in a courtyard amongst beautiful buildings and fantastical beings all around. The two different types of Yardrat people were fully on display. They stared at us in shock at first, but that quickly morphed into a welcome surprise as the people recognized Goku.
I looked around at everyone, Goku was there of course. He had brought Gohan, and when I told Chichi about us not having a dedicated Chef, she immediately agreed to come along, packing a literal boatload of supplies along with her in a series of Capsules.
Bulma, Vegeta, Future Trunks, Krillin, 18, and 16 all came along. 17 had been flying around looking for a quiet place in nature, so we let him be. Piccolo decided to join us, along with Tien and Chiaotzu. Yamcha and Puar didn't join us, but no one really expected them to.
The 14 or so of us were all immediately greeted and brought to the Elder of the village we landed at.
"Greetings Goku and friends. I am Elder Pybara, what could be the reason that all of you have come here today?" The blue Elder asked.
"Heya Elder Pybara! We were hoping that you could train most of us on how to use...what was it 21?" Goku asked.
I stepped forward and bowed, "Greetings Elder Pybara, I am Android 21. We were hoping that you might teach us Spirit Control. In return, we would leave this communication device, that you may call us should you ever need assistance."
The cute elder nodded, looking like a blue slime on a monk's body, "You wish to protect people?"
"Among other things, indeed. There is more that is happening in the next decade that we need to be ready for," I said.
"Such as?"
"Beerus the Destroyer will awaken sometime soon. Along with Majin Buu, Moro the World Eater, and other devastating universal threats on the Horizon, things that all of us need to be strong enough for," I explained, leaving out specifics.
The Elder didn't lose his composure, but he did seem more concerned.
"I see, terrible things in the future indeed," He said. "And what do you hope to gain from Spirit Control?"
"Several things, but I assume that it changes from person to person. Personally, I want to learn Forced Spirit Fission, Instant Transmission, and Ki-Healing. But anything I could learn would be counted as a benefit," I bowed again.
"Instant Transmission shouldn't be that difficult, but the others are extremely advanced techniques..."
"True, but to defeat people like Majin Buu and Moro, we need that Forced Spirit Fission, without a doubt."
"I accept any who wish to learn as my students as long as they know that nothing comes easy with spirit control. It is an art that we, the Yardratian People have practiced for many years. I gladly share this with you all, but I do so with the hope that you use these techniques for good. I can't help but think that you will do good with this knowledge as I know Goku to be pure of heart. We learned that the Ginyu Force was going to come to our planet before Goku defeated them, which would have been devastating," The Elder bowed to Goku in gratitude.
"I remember hearing they were supposed to attack this place," Vegeta said.
"Yeah! When I hopped in that Saiyan Attack Ball, it was already programmed to head here! This was the next place they were going to attack," Goku said.
"We are grateful indeed, though it pains us to know how many Namekians suffered at the hands of Frieza and his army," Elder Pybara said, this time nodding to Piccolo.
~o*o~
The first day started out easy, with excessive amounts of meditation. Bulma, Chichi, and even 18 all went to an open area where Bulma released a huge mansion for everyone to stay at while we trained, the benefits of having the top researcher of Capsule Corp with us. As noon approached, not a single one of us was able to keep the excitement, frustration, or even annoyance out of our auras. Goku, Vegeta, Tien, Trunks, Gohan, Piccolo, Chiaotzu, and Krillin were all making progress, however.
It was very quickly realized that both 16 and 18 had no Ki at all, so practicing Spirit Control was essentially impossible. That wasn't to say that they didn't have souls, because they did, but they didn't have Ki. I couldn't figure it out, but they did their own thing.
16 was enjoying the planet's beautiful natural scenes, while 18 was relaxing with Bulma, who had taken the trip and turned it into a full-blown vacation. They were lounging and drinking margaritas while everyone else trained. It was kind of endearing, to be honest. Every time I looked over to 18, she gave me a smirk and winked behind her sunglasses as if saying, "Having fun yet?"
The meditation was like doing one of those martial arts training montages where you do something super simple and aren't told why until later. I did my best and even worked on my Spiritual Karma Diffusion from absorbing Cell for a while. I had no idea how Karma took part in it, but the longer I meditated the more it made sense that I wasn't actually removing the concept of Karma, I was absolving my soul of the burden of taking on Cell's evil deeds. It was kind of nice that I could work on this, but it was a very slow process.
Chichi made us lunch and we had a fantastic meal. When she cooked, she went all out, creating a plethora of entrées that continuously added up until everyone was full. That was a full-time job when Saiyans were at the table, it really was her superpower.
The afternoon began with us listening to Elder Pybara speaking on the different abilities that could come from using Spirit Control. I always thought it was incredible that Instant Transmission was one of the easier techniques that Spirit Control could teach you. It is arguably one of the most powerful abilities in the universe.
Instant Transmission was so powerful that it could bypass any barrier, and transport one out of time and even known space. Goku has used it to instantly appear in the Other World, a place that doesn't exist in physical reality, a spiritual plane.
It is instantaneous and extremely powerful with only 2 limitations. The first one is that you must have another life force to travel to in order to activate the ability, one that you recognize and can harmonize with. That doesn't just mean any plant or living thing, but something with a soul, or how the ki interacts with the soul to form a spirit.
The second limitation is the time that it takes to find that person and where you want to go around them. There is some degree of choice as far as arrival point, but it is still something that one needs to practice before implementation.
You must have all that information ready as you activate the ability.
I could have tried to use Connoisseur Cut on Goku to learn the ability, but I wanted to understand every step behind Spirit Control before I even progressed down that line of thought. Better to know everything behind why it works than just getting the ability.
The first thing we all worked on, was, of course, sensing other people's ki. This was an ability I already had, but I worked on it with everyone else all the same. By the end of the first day, everyone could read the ki of others and assess the approximate power level. Not in terms of numbers, but in comparability to their own.
The next day went much the same, starting out with meditation, but this time the Elder gave us a goal to focus on. We were tasked with finding the 'edges' of our spirit. Which was difficult to describe in words, but when achieved it makes more sense. You weren't finding the bounds of your spirit, you were pushing your spirit to find the edges of how far it can move beyond your physical form. But not exactly that either.
We continued after lunch and began to work on masking and manipulating our Ki signature, as well as using the sensing of ki to test each other. An entire week went by and not a single one of us, even Gohan, had trouble with the basics of Spirit Control.
This prompted me to look at my Abilities, which did indeed have some changes.
Abilities:
Ki Techniques:
Spirit Control - C Tier
- Ki Sensing
- Ki Signature Manipulation
- Ki Cleansing
Energy Blast - D Tier
Detonation Ball - C Tier
Photon Swipe - A Tier
The line that now said Spirit Control, used to just say Ki Manipulation, and it didn't have any other abilities below it. Now it had all the basic abilities that it took us about a week to learn, but the tier hadn't changed yet. I wonder if that will change as I access and learn more abilities.
The Ki Sense is self-explanatory, something that I already could do, but now I could use it at a further distance with more precision.
Ki Signature Manipulation only came down to masking one's aura below the level of ki they had, while maintaining Ki Circulation throughout the body. The more you have actively circulating, the more difficult it is to mask your power level. There were distinct diminishing returns on how effective it was to mask your signature.
The Ki Cleansing was more interesting. This involved cleansing the body of toxins, poisons, and external influences, whether that be magic, Ki, or even psionics. I was surprisingly good at that and I got good enough to the point where I could remove caffeine from my body since we weren't practicing with real poisons.
This could also be used to clean the exterior of one's body by adjusting where your spirit was, though if you used too much power you could destroy your clothing. It was fun to be able to clean myself with my energy, but it didn't let me add flowers or something to my natural smell, so I still preferred showers or baths.
Week 2 was when things got interesting.
Gohan, Tien, and Piccolo were, for some reason, absolutely amazing at changing their body shape. The Gigantification ability was almost natural to them. I wasn't too far behind on it, but Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, Chiaotzu, and Krillin struggled with it, eventually giving up on it.
While being classified as a simple ability, Instant Transmission took another 2 weeks for most of us to learn. It was difficult to hit the transition point, like working up the courage to step off a cliff if you didn't have the ability to fly. After your first successful time, however, it was like the door was open, making it much easier to accomplish.
Vegeta and Chiaotzu both struggled to get it to work, both failing by the time Elder Pybara wanted us to move on. I had a feeling Vegeta wasn't going to accomplish Instant Transmission since he was only able to do it once during the Moro Arc. It seemed like he had some kind of mental block since he seemingly labeled the ability as 'Kakarat's ability,' some weird kind of ego thing.
Chiaotzu was unable to activate the ability, but I didn't know why, there didn't appear to be a mental block like what Vegeta had but he couldn't get it to work. He was working with Tien and the Elder but never got it to activate, even with his weirdly incredible psionic abilities. His powers were surprisingly vast, including things like Telekinesis, Telepathy, and even Divination which was closer to Scrying than true Divination. Either way, it must have messed with his ability to use advanced Spirit Control.
Gohan took the longest out of everyone who hadn't given up, but the rest of us, especially his dad, were all helping him learn. Things ended up working out when Goku powered up to Super Saiyan and yelled at his son. Gohan disappeared with the tell tail sound of Instant Transmission as he finally locked onto his father.
Father and son celebrated together with a huge high-five and a hug. It was a great picture that reminded me of the happy times in those filler episodes that I loved so much. Dragon Ball could be brutal, but it also had great slice-of-life scenes that I enjoyed so much.
~o*o~
"Do you think he will be able to learn it?" Trunks asked.
I shook my head, laying down next to him in our temporary room, "I don't know, but I think he has some difficulties dealing with...his past."
"What do you mean?"
I thought about how much I wanted to reveal from what I knew. The Moro Arc did a lot to describe the things that were holding Vegeta back. He had loads of guilt about his younger life, conquering and destroying civilizations for Frieza. "I think his frustration with Instant Transmission stems from his view of it being one of Goku's signature techniques. Vegeta has some...spiritual walls that he has to work past to move forward. I think he will still be able to do Forced Spirit Fission, which is my goal for all of us."
"Describe that again."
"There are several facets to the ability, but the general part is that it allows a fighter who does damage to another to separate and manipulate the energy from their target. This damage allows them to undo fusion and absorption techniques and even free trapped souls. You can do the damage from a distance with ki attacks or up close with physical blows. More advanced uses revolve around the opposite version of it. Instead of splitting energy and manipulating it, one can concentrate energy and revitalize another being," I explained.
"I can transfer ki, but it only goes directly into their...pool?" Trunks clarified.
I nodded, "Mhm, that is similar, but I think there is more control involved. Some techniques touch on these abilities, like Goku's Spirit Bomb, where every willing person on the planet can give their energy, even if they don't know they have it. But it's directly controlling those aspects."
I rolled over to him, putting a leg over his, "I have a feeling that Forced Spirit Fission will be easy for us, not too different from just pushing energy into a person. It's just the next step where we control the target's energy, making it our own to use as we please."
His lavender eyes glowed in the dim light in our room as they focused on me. The teal moonlight from the surface of Yardrat illuminated the night oddly. We spent hours just watching the auroras across the sky in our downtime. The illumination reflected directly into our bedroom, causing lines of teal light to glow around us.
"Are you nervous about going back?" I asked.
He sighed, "I suppose I am more...worried about it than nervous. I know I have to, and that I have much to do if I want to save everyone there."
"But you are worried that convincing your mother will be difficult?"
"I worry that without your way of...describing things, I won't be able to convince anyone about the upcoming threats. It seems fantastical, or at least...I don't know, beyond what we can deal with," Trunks said, the melancholy of the bleak future of his timeline taking hold. "You are sure there is no way we can stop Black?"
I shrugged, "We can attempt the Divine Ki Ritual before you leave but we would need another Saiyan who is good in nature. I don't wish to say anything negative about Vegeta, as he has fought for humanity, but much of his reasons for doing so are personal. Selfish even. He loves his family and would die for them, but I am not sure if that would be enough to access Divine Ki. We will need that power to do so."
"And this Broly guy?"
I shrugged, "I don't think he is bad, but his father is on a path only for revenge. To have Broly come with us, we need to figure out how to...get rid of his father."
He raised an eyebrow at me.
"I don't want to do that either, but it's true, regardless."
He sighed, "If we could somehow get past that?"
"Then you would have to figure out how to summon Lord Beerus. Which might be impossible since he's asleep. If you could do that, then you would have to convince him that Black, who came from a different time will be wiping out Supreme Kai's at a certain time in the future. I just don't know how to contact him, and without the Dragon Balls, it's quite impossible. You could try to acquire the Super Dragon Balls, but once again, without an Angel or a Kai, you are not getting to Universe 6."
"We could do it, but it would be a gamble, and require burning some bridges. We just aren't strong enough yet," I finished my reasoning.
Trunks sighed, "I understand."
Snuggling closer, I put my chin on his chest and stared at him, "We will save all that we can. All that we care about. You will come back here and I will be ready."
He smiled, "You better be."
I returned the grin, "After you leave, you have work to do. The Androids, Majin Buu-"
He interrupted me, "Isn't it just pointless? Why should I even bother when we can just get everyone to leave immediately? Why even try to beat Goku Black if we just empty the planet and save everyone we can?"
He knew why, but it was a hard thing to accept. We were preparing for something beyond genocide of a species. We were talking about the complete erasure of a timeline with trillions of souls winking out of existence. But we couldn't save everyone. It just can't happen, not without drastic measures or completely changing the timeline. Which I grant that I have done already, but not so much that we can't plan ahead.
"I wish that were true, to try and empty the timeline, but convincing everyone on future earth to go along without a plan to save them is impossible. We are facing horrible odds with terrible consequences. We have to be ready for that, to be ready to do what is necessary to save those who we can."
"And there is no way that you can come with me?"
A rhetorical question, he wasn't looking for the actual answer, but just expressing his feelings. I let out a small laugh, "We will be together again. No matter how long it takes. Leaving with you now is a detriment to us. There is too much power for me to claim here and the next 6 or so years of peace is too good of an opportunity to pass up."
Clenching his jaw, "No matter how long it takes..."
The pain that always lingered in his eyes had been dimming of late. Whether that be from working on his Spirit Control, or just being with me, I couldn't say, but seeing it flair at the thought of us not being together didn't sit well with me. I pulled him close, "Everything will be okay. We will be together again."
~o*o~
Forced Spirit Fission was easy for all of our fighters. It happened in 3 steps. The first was inflicting damage to the target, an easy thing to do, both at range and in melee. The second step was to input our energy into the target. The surprising part was that using a ranged Ki attack was slightly more difficult to 'input' our Ki via damage as opposed to a melee strike.
The reason for that was the impact point with a fist or tail was a perfect transfer point, as opposed to a Ki attack. It was easy to control a Ki attack but it took a few attempts before all of us implemented the second step of Force Spirit Fission with the same Ki attacks. After a few hours, everyone had it down.
The final step was the actual manipulation of the target's ki. Splitting it at first, was like blasting a source with a shotgun. It was inaccurate and slightly unpredictable. After a few more hours of practice on Ki Constructs created by the Yardratian helpers, finally, let us begin to alter the nature of the ki splitting. It was quite easy to go from there.
I was the first to fully gain Elder Pybara's approval, which was the first time that had happened while learning each technique. This was the main thing besides Instant Transmission that I wanted most of us to learn. This would make fighting most of our future opponents much easier. Majin Buu, Moro, and a whole plethora of enemies within the Tournament of Power would all be susceptible to Forced Spirit Fission.
We moved on to the last and potentially the most difficult form of Spirit Control, but not all of us even bothered with it. Vegeta specifically walked away with a scoff and Goku didn't seem very interested either. They left to go train somewhere in the distance, while the rest of us began to learn Spirit Healing.
We partnered up to attempt the ability, the problem for me being that I had too much regeneration to allow a small wound to be healed. We then went back to Ki Constructs which were slightly damaged through a quick application of Forced Spirit Fission.
I was the first to heal the target, but something strange happened. It wasn't a white ki aura that encompassed them, instead was a flash of pink light.
"That was not...Spirit Healing..." Elder Pybara said.
A window popped up in my vision, proving that he was correct.
_
Magic Techniques:
Magic Manipulation
Restoration - A Tier
Connoisseur Cut - S Tier
Hungry Beam - B Tier
Absorption - S Tier
Sweet Tooth - S Tier
_
I used my Majin magic ability to heal the target like Majin Buu does with the blind kid in the anime from my past life. Magic Manipulation was a new row in my Abilities tab and it probably shouldn't have surprised me that it appeared. What surprised me was that I finally felt the difference between magic and ki as it left my body. Usually, they easily mix in my aura and attacks, but for the first time, my magic reacted to my will.
Over the last few months I have been training my Spirit Control, but the moment my ki didn't answer my call, my magic did. The pink energy surrounded the ki-construct and it immediately healed. My magic reserves barely dropped and the target was completely healed and restored, that is physical and spiritual damage.
"That was magic," Elder Pybara said.
"It was. Something from my Majin Bloodline," I explained.
The Elder's eyes went wide, "Fascinating, a true Majin? Yet you look human. Could this be part of this mysterious transformation you were speaking of?"
I hadn't transformed while on Planet Yardrat at all, spending the time learning in my human form. "I suppose. My true form is...well it's more magical than like this. But also stronger."
The Elder nodded, "I see. Do you normally struggle to differentiate between ki and magic?"
Shrugging, I answered, "Hmm, I haven't tried, to be honest. When I am fighting, they work together to empower me-"
"Oh! No wonder you seem stronger than your energy reading!" Gohan interrupted. "When you were fighting Cell, your energy wasn't entirely ki! It was also magic!"
I smiled, the little guy was smart, "That's right! Good eye, Gohan!"
He blushed at the praise and Piccolo smiled at him. They were partnered up to learn how to use Ki Healing.
Elder Pybara laughed, "Well if you don't mind then, Miss 21. Please attempt to separately manipulate both energies simultaneously. Once you can do just that, then we can work on Spiritual Healing, is that acceptable?"
The Elder never ordered us around but always requested things in ways that you didn't want to go against his wishes. It was endearing but also kind of annoying. Once I can master Spirit Healing, I will have mastered Spirit Control, and only need to do the efficiency and strengthening exercises along with the rest of my standard training regimen indefinitely.
"Of course, Elder, I will do just that."
I tapped out from the rest of us and spent the rest of the week using magic and ki separately. The problem was that the energies were way different. Ki was much more powerful, while magic was more versatile. If I were to give them numerical values, the energy that each point is worth is hard to quantify. Approximately, 1 'point' of ki was worth 100 energy units, while 1 point of magic was worth 10, maybe. It wasn't exact and I would have to sit here and do math to figure it out, but that was my best guess.
Ki was so much more potent in flat energy output that a person with a power level of around 10 thousand, could easily destroy a planet the size of Earth. Someone with a power level of 100 million could encompass a solar system in their power, turning everything to dust, stars included.
Someone with a power level of 100 billion is a galactic threat, potentially destabilizing the local fabric of space itself. The difference between just letting an open blast go, and how Earth still exists despite so many enemies being able to destroy it, is that injuring a person with that much ki flowing through them requires their enemy to condense the ki and perfectly control the fallout to be next to zero.
That is how humans with a power level of 10 were able to survive while standing not 20 feet from the ring when we fought Cell. It was pure control, so much so that if they touched any ki attack they would no longer exist, but being so close to it was just the fighters maintaining control to a perfect level.
That being said, magic is a thousand times more versatile than Ki, even with Spirit Control. There is an amount of whimsy and fantastical willpower to magic that makes it strange to comprehend. For instance, how does my Hungry Beam turn a living person into a donut? I mean, I can't even comprehend how that works, plus the Sweet Tooth ability lets me eat the thing, thereby absorbing the being's true power. It is so abstract and versatile that it's extremely difficult to comprehend.
~o*o~
It was November of Age 767, and Bulma wanted to go home so she could marry Vegeta. Chichi was about ready to have Goten, though no one knew that would be his name besides Trunks and I. All of us had gone through the training and had been gone from Earth for 6 months, and everyone was starting to feel as though it was time to return.
Elder Pybara addressed all of us, "I have to admit, it has been a fantastic pleasure having all of you here on Yardrat. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching you all and while not everyone was able to master Spirit Control, I have never had such incredibly capable students learn everything I can teach them in the short amount of time that you have all been here."
He took a moment to look off into the distance, seemingly reminiscent of his past students. The Elder shook his head, "I thank you all for your efforts and time. You will all be welcome on Yardrat should you ever wish to visit."
He bowed and most of us stood, including me, and bowed in return.
Our last night on Yardrat we had a fantastic party with all of the others who helped train us, fed us, and even worked with us. It was a fantastic celebration, but I caught Trunks eyeline and left as he was speaking with Bulma. I smirked at him and winked before taking off to our room. He raised an eyebrow at me but didn't miss the intention.
I decided to have some fun, as it would be the last night we spent together for maybe up to a decade. My heart dropped at that thought, but determination pushed me forward. I quickly powered up enough to switch to my Majin form and stripped, then put on my sexiest lingerie.
After a few minutes, a nervous knock sounded on the door, "21? You in here?" Trunks knew I was in there but was being polite.
"Come in!"
Trunks entered the room and his mouth dropped open. God I will miss this man.
"As long as I live, I will never forget this sight..." He said.
"This sight...or this night?"
He laughed, "Both?"
I gave him the single-fingered 'come here' gesture, the smirk on my face growing devious. He pulled his shirt off and jumped on the bed. Our lips met and a fantastic night was in store. I made sure to give everything I had to ensure that it was a fantastic night. I made sure he would remember me.
~o*o~
Goku took the honor of taking all of us back to Earth via Instant Transmission. It was nice to appear back on Earth, the day was beautiful and was close to the mid-afternoon. A slight breeze let the chilly winter air cool us down. I closed my eyes and let my lungs fill with clean Earth air.
"Well then, are you also leaving, Trunks?" Bulma asked.
He was standing next to me, his hand on my shoulder from the Instant Transmission.
I could feel his emotions from the constant Spirit Control training over the last 6 months, my Ki Sense could pick up on his frustration and sadness easily.
"Yeah, I need to get back and save my timeline."
His rough voice brought a frown to my face, but I kept my eyes closed.
The group of all of us spread out in the courtyard we appeared in. Bulma's mother was Goku's target, as she and baby Trunks were sitting at a patio table eating some late lunch.
Stepping off to the side of the Group, I watched as Trunks went around, shaking hands and hugging those who had come along to train with us. He finished with Bulma who stood next to me.
I only just felt the first tear fall, but I met his lavender eyes all the same.
"Be strong 21, I know you are," Trunks said. His hand caressed my cheek.
I rushed forward and pulled him into a hug. Memorizing his smell, his ki, and his presence. We shared a few small words and he promised to come back when Goku Black showed up.
Neither of us said the 'L' word, but we also had a lot of eyes on us. It was clear that the emotions behind our convictions spoke all that needed to be said.
"Have a good one, Trunks! See ya later!" Goku said as the purple-haired warrior tossed his time machine out onto the ground.
Trunks gave us all a devastating smirk, "Sounds good. You all get stronger, don't let me surpass you!"
Vegeta scoffed but also had a slight smile.
The last thing I said to him was, "Don't cut your hair."
I didn't say how much I had fallen in love with this young warrior. We had spent a year and a half or so together, give or take. He was almost 20 years old now. Time line wise it would be 5 to 10 years until I got to see him again.
I would be ready. All of us would be ready.