Chapter 2: Kai
Last time we met our hero Jason as he crashed down onto the planet of remnant after escaping the destruction of his home planet Vegeta. He was raised by a Faunus huntress for the first 12 years of his life till her untimely death. Jason has now left home determined to find his mother's old master Kai to train under him. Find out what happens next now.
Jason sighed as he sat down under a tree in exhaustion and depression. It had been two whole months since he had left home to find his mother's master, and he had not a single lead to his whereabouts. He had asked everyone he encountered both at home and in the many villages he visited, and not one person knew who or where Kai was.
"Man, I am starting to doubt that this guy even exists," Jason complained.
Though he did not know exactly where to look due to his mother never talking much about her master or her training, he didn't think it would be that hard. Jason's eyes then widened when he heard his stomach growl, he had already blown out all of his money and food that he took with him, so he had nothing to eat or use to get any more food.
He decided to set up a small camp for the night and go out to find some food. He had been camping for the entire time he had been traveling to save money. He got used to this, seeing the many times he went camping with his mother. As he finished up setting up a fire pit, he went to a nearby lake to get some fish. When he got to the lake, he looked in awe at how clear the water was. He could see clear to the bottom and all the fish in it.
"Guess I should jump in. I haven't had a bath in a while either, so this is a win-win." Jason smiled as he slowly removed his clothes until he was in his underwear. He then jumped in excitedly, swimming around looking for the biggest fish he can find.
After ten minutes, he managed to get three large fish good enough to feed three people or one Jason in this case. As he got back to his makeshift camp, he started to cook the fish for his dinner. While Jason waited for his food to finish cooking, he couldn't help but think back to how his mother taught him how to cook outdoors. He just never thought he would use it so soon.
The thoughts of his time with his mother made Jason feel sad and depressed, knowing he will never have times like that again with her. However, he was soon taken out of his thoughts when he heard the rustling of bushes behind him. He quickly jumped back and got into a fighting position, ready for whatever Grimm that could be lurking there. Before he could react, something burst from the bush so fast that he could not register it and traveled behind him.
"Hmm, guess you're not as skilled as I heard maggot." Claimed, whoever was behind Jason. He quickly turned around to see a tall man with large black eyes and a broad smile on his face.
"Who the hell are you, and what do you want?!" Jason yelled in response to seeing this stranger.
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Oh wait, guess not she dead, like you could have been just now." Pondered The Stranger.
"The hell did you just say to me? Don't you dare talk about my mother or me like you know us." Jason shouted. Jason then started to charge towards the man, ready to punch his face in. But before he could make contact, the stranger moved out of the way and behind him at a frightening speed.
"Charging in like that full of anger will get you nowhere idiot. You'll never hit me like that," replied the stranger.
"If you can't hit me, then why bother trying to get training from me, fool" He stated. Jason's eyes then widened as he heard those words.
"Is this guy for real? This is mom's master, HIM!" Jason thought, irritated at what Kai had said.
"That's right, maggot. I am Kai, and by the look on your face, you already know that." Reported, the now revealed Kai.
"Hold up if your Kai, then how the hel – heck did you know where I was and that I was looking for you?!" Jason asked.
"Well, ever since I heard about you from your mother, I kept tabs on you, especially when she died, plus you have been asking people everywhere about me, so kinda hard not to know you're looking, or where you are," Kai answered. Jason felt astonished and a little embarrassed that Kai found him so quickly.
"So you came looking for me knowing I was looking for you. Why?" Jason questioned.
"Well, the same reason you came looking for me in a sense, to offer you training since that was clearly what you wanted," Kai responded.
"And just how did you know that?" Jason asked in response.
"Cause as I stated earlier, your mother had told me about you, especially about your unnatural thirst to get stronger, so when she died, I had just assumed you would come to find me," Kai answered.
"Well, if that's the case, then why did it take you so long to find me?" Jason questioned.
"Jeez, so many questions calm down. You're getting annoying maggot, but to answer your question because I felt like waiting, I thought it would be fun to see you try and fail to find me. And it was." Kai answered.
"That's kind of messed up, man." Replied Jason, dumbfounded that such a person had actually trained his mother.
"Well, no one asked for your opinion. Now, do you want to train with me or not?" Kai asked.
"And fair notice my training is challenging to most people, even your mother could not finish the entire course," Kai stated.
Jason took a moment to think he tried to rack his brain of all the information he just received. But soon, he snapped out of it, knowing that he had finally found his chance and there would be no reason he should hesitate about his answer knowing that he could look past what Kai said earlier and give him a chance.
"Yes, I want to train martial arts under you even though it's hard, and my mother never apparently finished!" Jason answered.
"Martial arts only? You don't want any training with weapons?" Kai questioned.
"No, I am not really good with weapons. It is just not my style hand to hand combat is better for me. It just feels unnatural to use a weapon even though I do like them." Jason answered.
"Fine, follow me after you clean up your camp. You will begin training tomorrow with your fellow student." Kai ordered.
"Wait, fellow student, what do you mean?" Jason asked as he tilted his head in confusion.
"Yes, I just accepted another student other than you, so you will be training with him. Now let's go maggot. I will explain the rules of my training on the way to which you can never break." Kai answered. Soon after Jason finished his dinner, he cleaned up camp and began to follow his new master to start his training.
"About time now, then the first rule of my training, you are not allowed to talk about my training, rule two…" Kai said as he began to speak of the many rules of training.
"Man, no wonder mom never talked about her training." Jason thought.
"Rule seven hundred eighty-seven, don't ever talk shit about me…" Kai continued to explain his rules for his training as he and Jason continued to walk to Kai's home.
"Man, how many rules does he have, and he got on my ass for only saying hell, he's way more of a potty mouth than I am." Jason thought.
"Okay, stop here," Kai ordered suddenly as they stopped at the foot of a mountain.
"At the top of the mountain is where I live. You must scale it by sunset tomorrow, or else, I will not train you," Kai stated.
"Wait, that mountains huge, and the air has to be super thin up there. How do you expect a twelve-year-old to do that?!" Jason questioned with his eyes widened in shock.
"Well, you clearly not a normal twelve-year-old, are you, or else I would not have brought you here now get to it, oh, and your fellow student already started 2 hours ago," Kai responded, holding up two fingers. Suddenly Kai disappeared, seemingly heading up the mountain.
"Wait, how did he know if my fellow student gone up the mountain, he was with me all day?" Jason wondered.
"Well, I guess I have no choice. I won't give up now. I will become strong like mom and be able to travel everywhere to make friends." Jason decided with determination in his eyes. Five hours later, as the sun began to set, Jason was already a quarter way up the mountain. At first, it had been easy. He could scale the rough terrain with his strength, but soon he found himself worn out, having used too much energy too fast.
"Man, this blows. At this rate, I might pass out due to exhaustion." Jason groaned.
"Tell me about it this sucks." Agreed an unknown voice next to Jason. Jason suddenly jumped after hearing a voice come from nowhere, only to see a blonde boy roughly his age lying next to him.
"What the who the hell are you and where did you come from?!" Jason screamed in surprise.
"Keep your damn voice down. I am right next to you, you don't need to scream!" Yelled the unknown boy.
"I guess you're the other student Kai talked about?" Asked the boy.
"Yeah, that's right, and I assume you are his student too." Jason assumed. The boy nodded his head to confirm.
"My names Evan Knight, what is your name?" The boy now named Evan asked.
"I'm Jason Shin. It's nice to meet ya!" Jason greeted excitedly.
"But why are you still here? Kai said you started two hours before me when he brought me here, although I don't quite know how he knew that seeing he was with me all day?" Jason asked.
"Well, I got too tired and passed out when I got here. Kai was not kidding about this being hard. I don't think I am going to make it." Evan explained.
"And what are you talking about? Kai was with me all day yesterday, not you!" Evan shouted in confusion.
"What that makes no sense, I know he was with me explaining all those complicated rules." Jason reasoned with equal confusion.
"Whatever that doesn't matter now that I am up, I might as well keep going. I don't want to finish after you seeing as I had a head start." Evan said as he picked himself up.
"How did you even get up here so fast and not collapse? I was exhausted when I got here?" Evan asked.
"Well, I was always told I was very strong, and I had trained for years before this with my mother, who was a former pupil of Kai's," Jason answered.
"Is that so…" Evan responded as both boys continued up the mountain. As they both walked up the mountain, Evan noticed Jason's tail swinging behind him. He scowled at the sight and started to move at a faster pace.
"I thought you were still tired. What's with the sudden change of pace?" Jason asked.
"I am not going to be seen finishing with a loser faunus. It would be pathetic and beneath me!" Evan shot back in a snarky tone. Jason was taken aback by the sudden words of racism that came from Evan.
"Hey, what the hell was that about? Just because I am a Faunus doesn't mean you can look down on me." Jason declared now pretty ticked off.
This was the first time Jason had encountered any form of racism in his life and did not appreciate it from someone he was supposed to be training with. Evan's scowl deepened even further. Just thinking about training with a Faunus made him sick. He just could not trust them after all the stuff the White Fang has done, especially to his family.
"I don't need to justify myself to you, so if you excuse me, I am going to beat you to the top," Evan stated. This made Jason even madder but even more so determined, he decided that he would prove himself to this guy.
"Fine, if you're going to be like that, then I will just have to beat you to the top and prove to you that I am not beneath you!" Jason yelled with determination in his voice. He then began to move faster to catch up to Evan and started to pass him due to the fact he had more energy in his reserves than him.
Seeing Jason start to pass him made Evan even madder. He wasn't going to be outclassed by him. So now Evan, even though he was still exhausted, began running at full speed to pass Jason. As he caught up, Jason was surprised to see Even begin to start getting ahead, but he instantly started to run faster in order to keep the lead.
This continued for another hour until both collapsed due to exhaustion. It took another hour until they both managed to get back up to their feet and continue heading to the top neck to neck. When it turned midnight, they both were at the halfway point and collapsed again, but this time they remained unconscious until morning.
However, just before dawn, Jason woke up before Evan. Due to his Saiyan DNA, he recovered faster than he did. Jason knew that this was his chance to get ahead of Evan and beat him. However, he stopped just before he started to go stuck in deep thought. Eventually, he sat down and waited for Evan to wake up. Even though he knew that it would mean giving up the advantage, he still waited.
"If I am going to win, I am going to win fair and square with him also moving, it would go against my morals and pride to go now." Jason thought as he continued to wait until dawn came. As Evan woke up, he let out a loud yawn taking in his surroundings until he remembered what he was doing here and quickly got up to continue up the mountain until he saw Jason sitting on a rock nearby.
"What the hell are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be heading up the mountain?!" Evan yelled as he stared at Jason.
"Good to see you are up. Now we can continue the competition, and to answer your question, I woke up an hour ago and was about to head up but decided against it. It wouldn't be fair if I want to beat you, I want it to be on equal terms!" Jason stated.
"That's just stupid. If I were you, I would have left you in the dust behind me where you belong!" Evan claimed.
"Fine, keep that tone. I am still going to beat you." Jason asserted as he began to run up the mountain.
"In your dreams, pal!" Evan yelled as he ran up towards him, catching up.
Kai waited for the two students at the top of his mountain in his home. He frowned when he saw that the sun was setting over the horizon. "If these maggots don't get here soon, they'll fail." Kai thought. Just as he thought this, he heard the sound of movement from the entrance of the grounds. He looked over to see both Jason and Evan crawling into the entrance simultaneously and collapsing onto their backs, gasping for air.
"Well, you two just barely made it, but even so, I guess you pass," Kai said.
"Who made it first?!" Evan questioned. With Kai's eyes widening in the surprise of this outburst.
"You both came in at the same time, neither came before nor after the other," Kai answered.
"WHAT ARE YOU SERIOUS!" Both boys yelled simultaneously with clear signs of disappointment on their faces.
"You maggots second-guessing me cause if you are, I am going to kick you back down the mountain." Kai threatened in a calm and stern voice.
"Sorry, sir!" Both apologized again at the same time with a scared expression on their faces.
"Well, guess neither of us won, so it looks like we are equal," Jason said.
"Not a chance. I am still better, and I will prove it during training." Evan snapped back at Jason.
"Oh, come on, what's with you, man, what did I ever do to you?" Jason asked, getting angrier at this point.
"Just shut up and stay out of my way," Evan demanded just before he passed out. Before Jason could say anything back, he too passed out.
"Well, these guys are going to be annoying." Kai sighed as he picked both of them up and brought them to their rooms.
Jason slowly woke up, still exhausted from the climb the next morning, feeling his stomach growl. "Ah, man, my stomach is killing me. I can't believe that I did all of that without eating anything all day." Jason sighed as he said this getting up from the bed. As he walked outside, he suddenly realized he had no idea where he would get anything to eat.
"Ah, crap, where is the food in this place!" Jason yelled in a panic looking everywhere around him.
"Will you be quiet! Some of us are trying to sleep!" Evan yelled as he came out of his room just next to Jason's.
"But where are we going to eat?!" Jason asked while still panicking.
"If you calm down, I will bring you to the dining hall where we will eat, also try to save your breath. There is very little air up here, so you're going to suffocate if you keep breathing erratically like that." Kai answered as he appeared behind Jason.
"AH! Kai, where did you come from? You keep appearing out of nowhere?" Evan asked.
"Not my fault you maggots can't see my movements now hurry up and come with me, or you don't get breakfast," Kai responded.
Jason immediately followed Kai towards the dining hall with Evan following with his hand on his stomach, realizing he too was starving. As they got to the dining hall, the table inside was filled to the brim with food. Evan began to slowly get some food and eat while Jason just took what looked good and ate it. Jason continued to eat lots of food at a frightening speed and ate more than what you would expect someone to eat, and it disgusted Evan.
"Do you not have any table manners, monkey?" Evan asked.
"Sorry when I get really hungry, I just eat without thinking, and you know my name is Jason, not monkey!" Jason answered, annoyed at being called his trait and not his name.
"Whatever." Was all Evan could say back. When both finished their breakfast, they cleaned up and followed Kai to an open courtyard.
"Okay, maggots, time to start your training, but first put on these," Kai ordered as he gave both Jason and Evan Gi. The Gi were black with a red belt.
(Gi is standard attire for martial arts)
"Whoa cool, these are awesome thanks, Kai!" Jason thanked excitedly.
"While I hate to agree with him, these are very comfortable." Evan agreed.
"Kay, now that you're dressed the part, it's time for you two to show me your strength," Kai stated.
"Wait, wasn't that what climbing the mountain was for?" Evan questioned.
"Nope, that was just for shits and giggles. Plus, it had no fighting, so this will show me how you are powerful you are." Kai answered.
"That's messed up, man," Evan commented.
"I know, right." Jason agreed.
"Well, no one asked for either of your opinions. Now here is how this exercise will work. I am going to drop you both down a pit, and you must fight the shadows down there, and if you survive, you pass." Kai explained.
"Wait, what was that part?!" Jason asked.
"Kay, training begins now," Kai said as he pulled a nearby lever dropping both Jason and Evan down a hole.
"Whoa, you diiiiiccccckkkkk!" Evan screamed as he fell.
"Yeah, they probably gonna die." Kai smiled.
Jason and Evan landed with a loud thud on the ground. Both got up on their feet immediately. "That psycho, we could have died in that fall!" Evan yelled in anger.
"Well, we didn't, and now we have to stay vigilant, for he said we were going to fight enemies down here," Jason said.
"Yeah, yeah, I know already just shut up," Evan replied.
"Oh, come on, what is your problem?!" Jason questioned, fed up with Evan's attitude.
"My problem is that I have to train here with a faunus, so deal with it. I don't trust you and never will!" Evan shouted right back at Jason. After both of the boys stopped staring at each other, they got a good look at their surroundings. It seemed that the room they were in was a big room with an intersection bridge with spikes under them.
"What kind of room is this? It is like a death trap." Evan gasped.
"Well, that is probably the point," Jason responded. Before Evan could say a rebuttal, the sound of movement came from every side of the room, and the boys quickly turned back to back.
"Guess our opponents are here." Jason pointed out.
"Yeah, seems that way. Just remember to…." Before Evan could finish Jason interrupted "
Stay out of your way, I get it." As the boys finished talking, their enemies finally came into view. From every direction, a shadowy figure came towards them. The figures had to at least each be six feet tall with a menacing aura around them.
"What the hell are they? They're like Grimm but darker and menacing." Jason wondered.
"Well, get over it. All we have to do is take them out." Evan said. However, Jason can hear a slight hint of fear in his voice.
"Before we start, is your aura unlocked cause mine is not?" Jason asked.
"Not that I should tell you, but yes, mine is unlocked looks like I have the advantage." Evan bragged with a smirk as he then charged at the nearest shadow figure.
Jason soon followed suit while he didn't have his aura unlocked, he knew that he was tough enough to take damage and keep going. When he reached the shadow man, he immediately had to duck under a punch and came back with a kick to the figure's stomach. As he kicked the shadow, it felt as though he was hitting rubber as he bounced back and took his fighting stance.
He then charged at the shadow and aimed a punch towards the shadow's face. However, before he could react, the shadow blocked the attack and countered with its own punch to Jason's stomach. Jason gasped for air when he felt the punch connect, taking the breath out of him.
As Jason was on his knees trying to get air from the thin supply he had, he quickly had to move out of the way from an ax kick from the shadow. Jason quickly got to his feet and countered the shadows next attack throwing another punch into the shadow's chest.
Though this time, while it still felt like hitting rubber, he managed to push the shadow away. Taking this opportunity, he quickly swept the shadow off its feet and shoved it off the edge of the bridge, defeating it. However, before he could celebrate his victory, another shadow attacked Jason from behind, with Jason just barely dodging the attack. Quickly getting back into his fighting stance, he went to attack the shadow.
This time the Jason was having trouble keeping up with the shadow, barely blocking the barrage of attacks unable to counterattack. Jason then jumped up to dodge another attack from the shadow. While he did this, the shadow threw another punch straight at Jason. This event made Jason remember the last time he ever trained with his mother, where he was left in a similar situation. However, this time he anticipated this attack having to learn from his mistakes and dodged the attack.
Afterward, he managed to get behind the shadow and elbowed it to push it away. Having time to get his thoughts straight, he started to focus on his strength, feeling his strength increasing as energy began to flow through his hands. He felt this feeling once before during one of his many training sessions with his mother, and it always came when it needed or when he was in a highly focused state.
He then charged back at the shadow as he threw a punch at it with the shadow, also throwing a punch back. The two attacks collided with as both the shadow and Jason refused to give an inch. Jason then pulled back and grabbed the shadow's arm throwing it over the edge defeating it. Jason sighed in relief as he finished off the shadow. He then turned to see how Evan was doing, seeing that he was on his last shadow as well. Jason considered going in to help but didn't know why he should bother.
"Now, then time to end this!" Evan declared as he charged at the shadow.
Before he could make his attack, the shadow disappeared and reappeared right behind him, landing a swift blow to the back of the boy's head. Evan fell down, grunting in pain in the confusion of the shadows sudden burst of speed and strength. Suddenly the Shadow's muscles grew more prominent and it became taller, now towering over Evan at ten feet tall. The shadow then attacked Evan with frightening speed, and Evan only barely dodging it. As the shadows fist hit the ground, the ground suddenly exploded from the punch's strength.
Evan's eyes grew wide in terror, knowing that if that punch had landed, he would have been killed. Before he could recover, the shadow went in for another attack at a frightening speed. This time Evan could not move out of the way. Evan knew he could do nothing and closed his eyes just as the punch was going to connect. However, the blow never did connect, and Evan looked back to see what had happened, his eyes widening once again, seeing Jason in front of him holding the shadows fist back.
"Why did you do that? You didn't have to help me? This is my fight, you had no reason to help?" Evan asked as Jason continued to hold back the punch, which grew more and more difficult.
"Yeah, I know, especially with all those remarks you made, but I can't just stand here and not help," Jason replied.
"Although you kept insulting me, I knew you are still a good person and that you must have a good reason to not trust a faunus I can just tell. We are both students of Kai, and I think we can be friends if you'd just opened up." Jason added Evan slowly rose but could not keep his eyes off of Jason. Even with all, he said Jason still helped him and wanted to be his friend, he never thought a Faunus could be like that.
"How do you figure that?" Evan asked out of curiosity.
"Well, I am just usually good at judging one's character even though I just met them, and for you, I can tell you are really nice," Jason answered.
"Now enough talking, I can't hold this shadow back much longer. Its strength is growing by the second." Evan nodded in agreement and backed up into his fighting stance, allowing Jason to let go of the shadow and do the same.
"Ready?" Jason asked.
"Of course," Evan responded.
Both boys then shouted as they charged straight at the shadow who quickly attacked but was countered by Jason, who pushed the attack away, allowing Evan to jump and land a kick on the shadows face. Afterward, Jason came in and punched the shadow in the gut as it recoiled from Evans attack pushing it backward. Before it could recover, Evan came back in and swept its feet, causing it to lose balance and fall right into Jason's attack straight to its neck. The shadow reeled back in pain, dropping its guard.
"Now is the time to take it down!" Evan shouted.
"Right, let's go!" Jason agreed. Both boys then charged and straight at the shadow, punching it simultaneously, throwing it off the edge of the bridge defeating the shadow. Now that victory had been achieved, both Jason and Evan fell down and started to catch their breath.
"Nice one, you were pretty good during the fight." Jason complimented.
"Yeah, and you were pretty good as well, and though I am ashamed to admit it, you are stronger than me. And sorry for what I said before. I know I can be hard at times. I just have had bad interactions with faunus." Evan replied.
"It's no problem. I just hope you can see we are not all that bad now, and hopefully we can be friends." Jason said.
"Yeah, sure, let's be friends, and I am looking forward to training with you," Evan replied.
"Yeah, same here." Jason smiled. Evan felt foolish for thinking bad of Jason for being a Faunus. Even though he did nothing him to him, he still treated Jason like dirt, and he felt terrible. But after Jason saved his life, he could clearly see Jason, for he really was a good person, and now he can properly train with him and hopefully be good friends.
"Hey, so do you know how to get out of here?" Jason asked. Evan then realized that they were stuck down here with no way out.
"Oh crap, your right. How the hell are we getting out of here?!" Evan screamed.
"Kai, didn't forget about us, right?" Evan asked.
"Maybe that or he is leaving us down here and laughing," Jason suggested. Little did he know he was very right.
"Well, congrats, maggots, you managed to survive the test. I can see a bright future for both of you." Kai said as he brought both Jason and Evan back up.
"Yeah, no thanks to you dick!" Evan yelled.
"Bitch, no backchat!" Kai replied as he smacked Evan.
"Sorry, sir!" Evan apologized with fear in his voice.
"Now that will be all today. Go eat dinner and relax, we will begin training exercises tomorrow." Kai ordered.
As both Jason and Evan left for the dining hall, Kai turned around and disappeared from the courtyard to later reappear somewhere else entirely. He was now in a room lit with torches that glowed with a purple flame. The only other person in the room was an old man with a staff who's face was hidden under a hood from his cloak.
"So Kai, how do the new trainees look?" Asked the old man.
"Eh, they're okay and could use some work, but I am sure they will be able to handle your training when the time comes," Kai answered.
"Excellent, Kai, thank you. I have no doubt that you can train them to flourish." Replied the old man.
"Bitch you know it." Is all Kai said before he disappeared again to leave.
"Where does he get that ego?" Thought the old man. "I believe that these boys will become very strong and be of aid to the world, just as I foresaw in my vision."
Who is this mysterious old man, and what is his plan with Jason and Evan? Now that Jason and Evan have buried the hatchet, how much will they grow during their time training? All this and more next time.
Author's Note:
Well, hope you enjoyed it. I really liked writing this chapter, especially writing Kai's character, which, if you didn't realize, was based on TFS's version of Mr. Popo. The next chapter will have a short time skip, so see you then.