Gravity: 1.69x
Rookie: 0.65x
Superheavy Weights: 0.75x
Learning OT3 10,000 Megaton Punch

“But yeah mom, that fight was crazy! Ow!”

Pran was currently back in Hazel Village, his home. After being absolutely slapped around at the hands of both Liari and Zaks, he was now recovering in his small home and being bandaged by his fifty year old martial arts master mother, Lara. His wounds were still fresh, so this process wasn’t exactly a painless one.

“It sure sounds like it, you need to be more careful when facing foes of this caliber. You’re strong, but you have a long way to go. I can’t believe that this “Liari” creature is actually back…” She scolded with a worrying look. She was beginning to become increasingly more concerned with Pran’s well-being. Even as a fighter herself, she knew that the level he was trying to compete at was far beyond anything either of them had ever seen. She knew it was pointless to stop him, as if there was any of her or her husband in him, he was always going to go fight for those in need regardless if he could win or not.

“That’s the thing though, I’m starting to think that that might be what separates me from them.”

Lara’s facial expression was a perplexed one. “What do you mean?”

“I’m used to fighting well, fighters. You know, martial artists like you, dad, and I are. But these guys… They’re different. They’re monsters.”

“Well, that much is obvious. After all, they both attacked Earth on at least one occasion.”

“No, no, I mean, obviously they’re not nice people, but they’re mindset is way different. Like, fighting for us is a way to gain mastery of our minds, body, and spirit. Self improvement and discipline and stuff. And then if we have to throw hands to protect what’s important to us or to test our abilities in a friendly spar, we do. But, these guys are operating in a whole other different playing field than I am. They don’t give a crap about any of that stuff.”

As Pran continued to speak, he’d began to stare off into space as he did so. Almost as if he was venting more than actually talking to Lara.

“Like, Zaks, Queen of the Saiyans right? She was far weaker than Liari when the fight started right? Like I feel like I could’ve even finessed her a little bit if I played my cards right. She just straight up, no hesitation, when charging at FULL SPEED at her without a care in the world. She could’ve easily died doing that! It was such a linear play, anyone could have read it. It was like she didn’t even care!”

Lara couldn’t help but chuckle at that description. “Sounds like she should’ve been at a disadvantage then. From what you’re telling me she doesn’t like a capable fighter.”

“THAT’S THE THING THOUGH, THAT’S THE THING! THAT’S WHAT I WAS THINKING! AND YET, THERE WAS SHE WAS. NOT DEAD, HANGING IN THERE, BOXING. She even got rewarded for it, because she broke through her limits by doing that! She literally got EVEN stronger. And not even like, a little bit. Like it was basically like fighting a SECOND Liari. Like it feels like every principle of fighting I’ve been taught was completely thrown out of the window in that whole battle. They took incredibly reckless courses of action, hell, Liari and Zaks randomly would work together AGAINST me and then go back to beating up EACH OTHER. I don’t get it. Zaks was trying to get Liari’s full power revealed to take her on, and Liari.. Hell, she was happy to be there! She just wanted to fight strong people! It seems like that’s all she ever even cared about. Everything is just a game to her. Like-”

He felt her hand touch his shoulder. “Pran, deep breaths. You’re starting to shake.”

“Huh? Right. Sorry…”

“They really shook you up that much, huh?”

Pran stopped himself and took a deep breath before he tilted his head downwards toward his nose and pinched the bridge of it. He sighed in frustration at his current predicament.

“I guess. Like, I’m a little of an adrenaline junkie, but these powerful fighters with MASSIVE reservoirs of power at their fingertips want the life threatening thrill of it. And even then, it’s more than that, it’s like… like…”

“Ego? Liberation? Bloodlust?”

“It might just be all of them if we’re being honest! Like for example, take Zaks, right. Now all the Saiyans are battle hungry, so that makes sense. But she’s extremely tall, extremely muscular, just a straight up, hulked out juggernaut. Fighting for her, especially since she’s the QUEEN of the saiyans, like the most saiyan saiyan, it’s like sustenance for her! It’s like food or water, she needs it to survive. It’s like she wants to fight not just to test her own abilities and get stronger, but she needs to dominate them. The drive to win and best any opponent is what fuels her power. She straight up says in our confrontation that Liari is what drove her to unlock her new power. She actually took PLEASURE in actually harming her, but the way she said it… It wasn’t like, “Oh now I can finally stop her!” It was more like, “I’m getting stronger, I’m actually getting on your level” type of thing.

I just can’t get in that mentality. I like to fight, I’m down for a spar any day of the week, but like…. Sometimes it can feel more like a sport than a real “weapon” if that makes sense. I’m a fighter, but I’m not a warrior. Not like these randoms that are starting to pop up all over the place. And I guess, something to do with that is making me fall behind. What do you think mom? You’ve been training longer than I have."

Lara paused for a moment before answering, trying to gather her thoughts together.

“Pran, the reason that you’re having so much difficulty is because there is the disconnect between you and your opponent. When we fight, when we enter conflict, part of putting together a path to victory involves getting into your opponent’s head. You have to know how they think, you have to know what they’re going to do. There are certain things you can rule out based on what you think the goal is.

So far, most of your adversaries have been either me, your father, or some of the other martial artists here. When you fight us, you’re throwing punches with the understanding that this is all for the betterment of both of us. None of us are going for the killing blow, or permanently injure the other person. None of us are willing to throw our body into the fire for some malicious, insatiable desire either. Because of that, our fighting styles, our techniques, surround that philosophy.

However, now you’re going against people who are completely different than us on a fundamental level. These people, especially those that momy appear later on down the road, they don’t care about peace. They don’t care about self improvement for the sake of becoming more well rounded individual. They are fighting for power. Some of them want power for a particular purpose, but some want power just for power’s sake. And in those cases, you’ll find that people are willing to do just about anything to obtain that. As your father and I have taught you, everyone has their own values and beliefs that they hold dear. Things they care about so much, that stripping them away is essentially the same as killing them outright.

For some people, these values are complex with deep moral questions and implications.

And for others, it’s something as simple as pride. That’s it.

And when someone has very few, simple things that they put on a pedestal, such the saiyans, they are going to end up obtaining power far faster and to greater extremes with less effort than you, simply because they have very little limitations and rules. You however, are willing to do only as much as you need to, and with the blanket rule that it doesn’t have a negative effect on anyone else.”

A little concerned at where this was heading, Pran stopped his mother in her tracks in order to clear this whole thing up on the spot.

“Wait, wait, wait. That last part. Are you saying that by being a good person that I’m basically handicapping myself?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“OH COME ON! Why am I punished for NOT being a crazed lunatic! It’s not fair!"

“HAHA! Things rarely ever are in life!”

“So what now, am I supposed to become like them to defeat them? I don’t think I can bring myself to blow up cities, mom.”

“Oh my- Obviously not, silly! These restrictions that not just you, but all of us have placed on ourselves have only strengthened our resolve. We accept these limitations with the understanding that we are only doing so because we recognize that it is for the greater good. If we ran around doing whatever we wanted, we’d be weak minded, immoral, irresponsible, and controlled by our desires. Since we’re talking about the saiyans, look at them. They fight and fight, giving blood, sweat, and tears, for what? They lose limbs, allies, burn down entire civilizations and what exactly do they get from it all? None of it is ever worth it in the end. A lot of them, mainly the ones that grew up in that culture, are in a never ending battle. And they will be until they die.

The point I was making, Pran, is that for you defeat your enemies, you have make an effort to understand them. You don’t have to agree with them, you don’t even have to like them, you just have to understand. Once you can figure out what it is that they value, what it is that they are chasing, it’ll become much easier to figure out how to tackle them. This isn’t just fighting either. This is for any kind of struggle you’ll come across. If you want to get ahead of them, you’re going to have to be understanding. After that, you’ll be able to see and predict how their ideals fuel and direct their unconscious biases towards certain actions. After that, it’s checkmate. Get it?”

After Pran finished digesting his mother’s words, he let out another sigh. This time, it was one that allowed him to cool off.

“I think so, thanks.” Pran replied, giving her a hug.

“Anytime, sweetheart.”

“So, uh, what now?”

“Well, as your parent and mentor, I’m going to teach you some new things! I have to make sure you’re more prepared for these situations should you run into them again.”

“Okay, learning new things is pretty exciting! What are you going to teach me?”

“So far, most of the technique we’ve taught you was to get you a hold of basics of the three core principles of Ki: Genki, Yuki, and Shoki. Not only is your Shoki lacking, but you need a more versatile skillset overall. So, and this is a little convenient given your injuries, we’re going to focus on meditation to strengthen your Shoki. Honestly, it is the hardest to master out of the three disciplines, but it is powerful in its own right. You’d be surprised at how many applications it really has. Come with me, we’re going to the garden.”

“Gotcha, lead the way!”

Pran slowly stood up with Lara’s help and they both left their home and made their way into towards the garden, the most peaceful place in their village. Once they arrived, Lara sat him down in the middle of it, and sat down in front of him.

“Guided meditation? I feel like I can never get into it. Not fully at least.”

“And that is PRECISELY why we’re doing it.”


“UGGGGHHHH, but I feel so weird. It feels like I get lost in all of the “detachment” and stuff. It feels like limbo.”

“We could always go back to physical training.”

“...Nevermind.”

“That’s what I thought. Now, close your eyes and clear your mind.”

Pran did what she asked and followed what he was taught, taking deep breaths and focusing in on them to detach himself and let the thoughts flow through him.

“Alright, now just do what I’ve taught you. Block out the wind, the birds, even my voice. Enter your mind’s Paracosm.”

He could feel himself plummet within himself, falling into what felt like an abyss. The Paracosm, a mental manifestation of one’s mind. All your hopes, fears, dreams, secrets, biases, all of it, takes physical form. It is a plane in which you can go on a journey of self discovery without ever leaving the comfort of your own home. Certain entities exist on this plane. Many people believe them to simply be aspects of themselves, while there are a few who believe they’re spirit guides who are there to guide us to our complete selves.

While the interpretation of this process can vary from culture to culture, Pran and his family believe the former. By extension, it is believed that “Shoki” is directly tied to this space within themselves.

After what felt like an eternity, Pran finally entered his own Paracosm.

He fell from the “sky”, hitting the ground with a thud.

“Great, still can’t fly here I guess.”

What you can or can’t do in this mental scape is dependant on several factors, one of which is detachment. Due to the difficulty of being completely removed from the outside world and being within himself, he is actually grounded in this plane.

“This place looks… a lot different than last time. I wonder if it’s because of what I’ve been up against recently.”

The Paracosm is ever changing in shape and form depending on the state of one’s spirit. Each trip might yield different results. Sometimes, one can experience the drastic shift in landscape before their very eyes.

Before, he saw many islands with lots of vibrant colors. There were “birds” chirping and the ocean was a bright blue. The “skies” were that of a bright, sunny day. Everything was filled with life and beauty.

A stark contrast to what he was seeing now. He could hardly see three feet in front of him with all of this fog.

“Alright, Pran, focus. Do what you came here to do. Where are we going…”

While there wasn't necessarily a set “plan” for being in this place, Lara and Mato, Pran’s father, had always urged him to find one new thing about himself every time he was here. He didn’t succeed every time, sometimes he’d just be wandering aimlessly for anywhere up to an hour, but considering the circumstances he was now in, that probably wasn’t going to be the case this time.

He began to walk towards the forest that was in front of him, admittedly a little cautious. The Paracosm was always a weird place, and it was up to anyone’s guess what he could find in there. Pran never took any of this too seriously, as, at the end of the day, it didn’t matter what kind of temptations you have. Your actions, what you choose to do with them, that’s what really mattered. Besides, this place was kind of like a dream. If you have something at the forefront of your mind that’s not a big deal in the grand scheme, that might be all that pops up anyways. No one’s completely figured this out yet. Even his parents.

As he made his way through, the tree behind him seemed to close on its own. The leafed branches seemed to elongate, twist, and turn as they went to block his exit. In fact, it seemed like fully grown trees that hadn’t been there before were now present. He could never tell if this was because he had been “teleported” to a different part of the forest or if it literally changed on its own right in front of him. He couldn’t tell, and both causes were equally possible and neither were worth dwelling on.

“I really wish I could SEE.”

With the only source of light having been the exit, Pran was basically engulfed in nothing but darkness. Soon, he even began hearing whispers and the sound of branches breaking, as if he wasn’t alone.

As he continued to feel his way through plant life, trying not to trip and fall on anything. this would persist, and even evolve. He could hear sounds that belonged to key memories in his life. He could hear faint echoes of his father in the distance calling out to him by name. Every time he heard his voice, he could feel an emotional gut punch that got harder. He missed him, a lot. And the day he was taken away from him was one that had practically been seared into his memory.

He had been trying to find him ever since, but to be honest he didn’t where to start. He knew the village attackers were evil robot warriors for sure, but it’s not like they were wearing an insignia or something. Whoever made them clearly wanted to remain anonymous, the cowards. If you’re going to attack a home and rip families apart, at least do it with your whole chest. The worst part is, he didn’t even know why THEIR village was attacked specifically. What did they have that want? It’s not like there was anything super valuable in their possession.

“Oh my goodness. This place gives me the creeps and it’s my own head. How am I getting creeped out by my own BRAIN. This is why I hate being in here. Maybe I should’ve taken my chances and done the physical training instead…” Pran told himself, trying to distract himself from the negative feelings that were coming on. It looked like his own mind picked up on this too, as there were more than willing to really lay it on thick.

The fires, the screams, the sounds of Lara, Mato, and other martial artists who were present doing their best to defend against the attack began to paly in the background.

“Lara, you have to get Pran out of here! There’s too many of them!”

“Mato, they’ve got you surrounded!”

“Is that all you’ve got tin cans?”

“Dad!"

“Mato!”

“Haha, they think I’m out of gas because of a couple of scratches? I’m just getting to the good part!"

“Dad! DAD!”

“I love you both…”

Pran stopped in his tracks, he could feel his breathing starting to get heavy and his eyes starting to water. Taking a second to calm himself down, he could feel the anger boiling up inside of him. Of course he had to reminded of one of the worst days of his life on top of this Liari and Zaks crap.

“I really… hate this place.”

Alas, the only way forward is through.

As he kept walking through the forest, the noises would eventually begin to stop, but now it was replaced by dead silence. The kind that would make you be on edge. Whether or not there was something here with him was anyone’s guess. The entities that existed in the Procosm aren’t always encountered with each visit. Most of the time people run into them by accident. In fact, it was almost like the more you searched for them the more they alluded you. A weird thing, it was.

Now deep into the forest, seeing nothing but pitch black, he had begun to calm down. His emotions had returned to a stabilized state, and it looked like it was going to be smooth sailing from here on out. Though, the landscape that surrounded him didn’t seem to respond to his change in mindset. Perhaps it saw through the ruse, recognizing that there was still a dark feeling of inadequacy for failing his family. For not finding his father, for being too weak to protect those he loves, who knows.

He predicted that Lara probably wouldn’t accept what he has found during this trip though, as much of it old news or stuff that they literally just talked about. So, while he was ready to pack it up here and leave, he knew that he needed something else of substance. Maybe another core memory that he had seen…

Suddenly, all the hairs on Pran’s body stood up.

He froze instinctively, even holding his breath to be more silent.

A dark energy was flowing out from in front of him. He couldn’t even see anything yet, just feel its presence. It was thick and intense, almost like black smoke. It surrounded him and infiltrated his nostrils and his lungs, making it hard to breathe. It smelled foul, like someone had left something in the oven for too long.

“Holy moly! What the heck is that?”

In front of him, red eyes glowed and pierced through the darkness. They glared at him, and began to… grow? No not grow, it was getting closer. The energy becoming even more intense was proof of that.

“Oh great, one of the-” *cough* “- entities I guess? I haven’t ran into one for- *cough cough* - a while. So, what are you supposed to be?”

“That’s not important. What are you going to do about your current situation?”

“...What?”

“You want to find your father, stop the threat, yadda yadda yadda. What’s your plan? And more importantly, what are you going to do when you fight them again?”

“Aren’t you supposed to tell me that or something?”

“You want me, a construct of your mind, to figure out an answer when you can’t.”

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Solve my problems or whatever?”

“....”

“...What?”

WHAM!

“That was strike one.”

A shockwave emanated from the source of the blow as Pran was sent flying in… a direction, before he even knew what happened! His body hopped along the ground like a child skipping a rock across a pond. Whatever sense of direction he had was completely lost after that hit, which only made the situation increasingly annoying.

Once the momentum had finally left him, he stumbled to his feet, preparing for a fight. The pair of eyes appeared before him in a flash, despite the distance that had been created between merely moments ago.

Understandably, Pran was a little peeved.

“Aren’t you guys supposed to give me information, or at the very least help me in SOME way? What’s the lesson in- oh my god I’m about to throw up. Wait, can I throw up here? Questions for the later… ANYWAYS. What’s the point of this?”

“Well, for starters you said some dumbass shit, so I HAD to hit you for that. The other reason was because you need to stop playing around. All of these games are distracting you.

… It was mostly because of the former though.”

“You know, I thought you were going to be some crazy intimidating monster thing.”

“Well, what do you see now?”

“A giant pain in the ass.”

“I mean, technically you only have yourself to blame.”

“Okay, well, I’m gonna get you back for that! HYAH!”

Pran rushed forward, throwing a MEAN right hook at… something. He still had no idea what the physique of this guy even was, but he figured if he aimed for the general direction of where it was he’d hit SOMETHING.

And he did! With immediate regret!

He reeled back in pain, holding his hand with his other tightly. It was like hitting hard steel! The worst part was because of how weird the Paracosm was, he wasn’t sure if what he hit was the body of what was kind of his opponent, a tree, or some other kind of thingamajig. He wasn’t even sure if he was even still IN a forest at this point. After being absolutely BLASTED a great distance, his body hadn’t even hit any trees!

“So, what did we learn?”

“GYAAAH! Fuckin’- GAH! Shut up!”

“Right, anyway. How are you not pissed the hell off right now?”

“Who says I’m not, jackass.”


“Not at ME, idiot. At these psychotic masochists that kicked your ass to kingdom come.”

“I’m mad at them too! They’re terrorizing people!”

“...No no no. You’re not hearing me.”

“Huh?”

“Have you ever… hated anyone?”

“Hated? Er… I mean. I’ve been angry at people. And I don’t really LIKE certain people.”

“My god, THAT’S your real problem. It’s not the “mehmehmehmeh understand your enemies” or whatever kind of nonsense your mommy was telling you.”

“Hey man, watch it. No one disrespect my parents.”

“Whatever, the point is you have no drive. It’s just “protect the weak!”. It’s not enough. Your DRIVE is what gets you to where you need to be. These guys treat Earth as their personal playground every other Thursday, and you’re just sitting here like. “Oh my gosh you guys! We have to get stronk for the fight!”

Like holy shit, shut the fuck up.”

“Okay, smart guy. What should my drive be?”

“Your drive should be getting rid of them.”

“...That’s literally what it is right now.”

“No, it’s not. You’re trying to stop them, send them packing, do the whole “never ending battle” kind of thing. Fuck that. We don’t have all day. You need to ERASE them. In the culture you grew up in, you separate Genki and Yoiki into “Neutral” and “Good” natures. You recognize that there's a difference between not doing anything bad, or stopping anything bad that occurs, from actively doing good. Actually making the world a better place, this is that.”

“...Er. You might have to elaborate.”

“If you keep acting ONLY when evil guys show up, you’ll never stop this crusade that you’re on. You have to be proactive. It means identifying the route causes of these crazy people from popping up left and right, stopping the problem before it begins. It’s not enough to be a Hero, you have to be Anti-Villainy. And that means wiping out the opposition. You have to have a HATRED for them. You END them.”

“I don’t know if I really have in me to have such a strong emotion towards them though…”

“...”

“What? Why are you looking at me like th- Oh no, NO NO NO NO WAI-"

BOOM!

Pran was sent flying YET again through the void that surrounded the two. Just like the first time, he didn’t even see the attack coming. He didn’t even know what exactly was hitting him. A kick? A punch? A headbutt? It was anyone’s guess. The only thing he knew for certain was that it HURT. A LOT. He began to wonder if the Paracosm really only existed in the mind, because he was certain that he was going to feel THAT when he got out of here.

In any case, it looked like he finally got what he came for, so it looked like he wouldn’t have to deal with this anymore. He was definitely going to get the last laugh though. Having slightly accumulated the pain from the first blow, he had an easier time recovering. He began to try and control his momentum, turning his freefall into a controlled landing. The pair of eyes appeared in front of him again, looking like it was about to give another lecture.

“Strike tw-”

“Yeah I don’t think so. I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but you can suck it. I don’t know have to put up with this. I’m going out there to the real world. Yeah, bet you’re real jealous.”

“You’re so-”

“Don’t care, bye!”

And just like that, Pran went through the worst part of this whole mediation part of it: The end. Being SUCKED out of the Paracosm felt like coming down from a REALLY bad high. It was as if someone came down and just dragged him through a bunch of dirt and mud and came out the other side. His eyes finally burst open, his body experiencing a jolt as he finally woke up from what now felt like a bad dream. He looked at his mother in front of him, who was staring back at him with a concerned look on your face.

“...Uh, what happened?”

“A lot of jaki was coming from your body, what happened?”

“Er, I mean… Some random guy was talking about how I wasn’t proactive and murdering the villains or whatever. I don’t know, it’s probably nothing.”

“That doesn’t sound like nothing, are you sure there’s something you’re not telling me?”

“I’m not sure, I wasn’t really in the mood to listen. The guy kind of got violent and threw me all over the place.”

“It’s just… I’ve never seen that much dark energy coming from someone unless they were experiencing a lot of violent and malicious urges. I wasn’t all the way convinced that it was still you in there. Are you alright? Do you want to talk about anything? You know I’m here for you.”

Pran couldn’t help but feel a little bad about making his mother worry, and so he did his best to reassure her.

“I’m fine mom, seriously. Can we uh... Can we do something else?”

“Sure. Let’s take a break for a little while. Wanna do something fun?”

Lara, of course, liked to have some mother-son bonding, but that wasn’t the main motivation. The amount of jaki that was leaking out of Pran’s body had her so concerned that she started preemptive measures to try and balance him out. Feeling positive emotions, doing things that lifted his spirit, was a great way to do that.

Pran raised an eyebrow, not expecting a strong shift from training to doing something else, but it honestly beat trying to go back to face THAT. Besides, he was still shaken up from the painful memories of the raid on his village. Maybe a few leads would pop up soon enough. If only he knew a guy…

“Sure thing mom! Sailing sounds like it would be really awesome right about now. I bet we can catch some GIANORMOUS FISH out there too!”

And with that, Pran and Lara went and spent what ended up being the rest of the day together.

The next day, Pran woke up bright and early in his room, feeling much better than yesterday. Enough to at least put his weights on this time. He sat up and looked over the side of his bed, finding them laying down next to it. As he strapped them on, he couldn’t help but realize they were really light. It seemed like he was actually starting to outgrow them, they wouldn’t be beneficial for much longer, so he had to make it count. It was a shame too, these weights were passed down to him by his father once he got strong enough to use them. He wondered what he should do when he was done with them, he’d feel bad just throwing them away… Maybe he’d keep them somewhere in his room.

As if he didn’t have enough in here already. Looking around, he was reminded of just how much stuff he kept over the years. Up on his wall on the right side of his room, he had a bunch of souvenirs from his various accomplishments from his life up until this point. Up on his wall, he had three belts hanging up side by side, each one a different color. These were given to him by his parents every time he mastered the basics of each disciple of Ki.

From left to right, it was:

The Blue Belt, showing that he had an understanding of Genki. The Ki Discipline that involves the strength and the invigoration of the body.

The Red Belt of Yuki. The Discipline focuses on not just pure energy, but also emotion.

And finally, although his lowest mastery of the three disciplines, the Yellow Belt of Shoki, focusing on the discipline of the mind.

Looking over on the nightstand that was next to him were photos of him with both of his parents from each point of his life. There was one when he first started training in martial arts, during his birthday, when he caught his first fish, etc. It reminded him of a time where things were normal, and not when attacks were weekly occurrences. He thought back to what he was told in the Paracosm about him needing to be more proactive, maybe they both had a point.

There was a knock on the door, with his mother’s voice following immediately after.

“Hey Pran! You up? I have a surprise for you!”

“Coming!”

He stood up and walked over the door, opening it,

“Oh good, your weights are already on! Let’s go!”

“What is it?”

“You have to see it, come on!”

Pran groggily followed her out of the house, wondering what got her so excited all of the sudden. As he made it outside, Lara kept going. She took flight, and so he took off with her.

“Mom, where are we going?”

“It’s just outside the village, trust me you’ll love it!”

As they eventually made their way outside the village, Pran’s eyes widened as it came into view. It was… a ship? And a pretty big one at that. Not too much unlike the massive one that Athren had. They landed down in front of it, and there were A LOT of questions he needed to ask. This ship looked really expensive, where did she get the money for this?

“What the- Who- How- WHAT!”

“Amazing isn’t it? It’s a little old, but she’s sturdy.”

“Where did you get this? How much money did this cost?”

“Oh, we’ve had this for a really long time actually. Your father and I used to use it for some pretty crazy adventures in our youth.”

“...Hold on. WHAT. We had an ENTIRE FRICKIN SHIP HERE THE WHOLE TIME! HOW DID YOU EVEN HIDE THIS?! WHY AM I JUST NOW KNOWING ABOUT THIS!”

“Well, we actually hid it in a special place not too far from here, but that’s not important. You’re at that age where you’re ready to take your training to the next level. This ship actually has a gravity chamber inside of it! You know, kind of like WAY better weights. Isn’t it great? Aren’t you excited!”

“This is… I don’t even know what to say… Other than that I CAN'T WAIT TO BE USING THIS!!” Pran shouted. Sure, he used Athren’s Gravity Chamber before, but now he had his very own! This was just the thing he needed! Now didn’t have to worry about bothering that guy every time he wanted a really good exercise. On top of that, it’s a ship! He wondered if he could get permission to use it to go places…

“I’m so glad you love it!”

“Me too! Though we’re definitely gonna have to talk about you and dad’s stories because I need to know SO MANY THINGS. Just, everything. LITERALLY EVERYTHING.”

“Haha! That could take ages, but how about we talk more about this over breakfast! The sooner you’re fed the sooner you can start training in this thing!”

“Right! Good thing too because I’m STARVINGGGGG."

Together, Lara and Pran headed back inside the village to get something to eat. Using the fish they had collected during their trip yesterday, as well as some leftover fruits and vegetables, they were able to put together quite a big meal. Many might consider it to be something better suited for lunch or dinner, but they didn’t care about that kind of thing. When the stomach calls, boy do they answer.

After about an hour or two, Pran and Lara made their way back to the ship. She gave him a quick tour of the vehicle before leading him to the Gravity Room. This place looked almost EXACTLY LIKE the one he sparred Athren in. Nothing like flashbacks to getting his ass handed to him by ANOTHER saiyan.

Once they entered, Lara turned on the artificial gravity after showing him how to operate it. Feeling a very familiar feeling of being weighed down by an intense force. Coupled with weights and a still recovering body, this was quite the experience. Lara walked over to him with a smirk, noticing him struggling while she was able to walk around like it was just another Tuesday.

“Careful, don’t hurt yourself.” She teased, even holding back a little laughter.

“Ha ha.”

“So, ready for a little spar with your old lady?"

“Yeah just a… go easy please?”

“….”

“…Please?”

Pran spent approximately the next 15 minutes getting his ass whooped by his own mother. To be fair, she was holding back. They were keeping it to strictly close quarters. No ki or flight or any other really fancy attacks, just straight hands. They were keeping it at about 50% to make sure he didn’t suffer any additional injuries to his already damaged body. It was a good thing too, because his mother had far more experience than him too in terms of martial arts. She had better technique, better reaction, adaptation, and just a more versatile skill set. Pran’s face and the floor beneath him became close friends pretty quickly.

As they continued to swap blows, Lara noticed that her son was getting used to the gravity as a significantly fast rate. Far more than a beginner should.

“Have you used a Gravity Chamber before?” She asked as she threw a straight jab at Pran’s head.

He leaned to the side, narrowly avoiding the strike before countering with a sidekick.

“Not gonna lie, I sparred with a guy who had one not that far from here. You know that village I went to?”

Lara caught his leg, spinning around and tossing him to the side of the room.

“Crimson Lake?”

His back hit the wall before his body dropped to the floor.

“Oof! Rivers. Crimson Rivers, but yeah. The guy who runs that place actually has one. He’s a saiyan, but he’s actually really chill! Well, he’s a little proud, but that’s about it.”

“Let’s hope it stays that way, we don’t want another attack.”

Pran got back up, getting into his fighting stance and rushing her again. He leapt into the air and launched a flying kick towards Lara’s chest!

“Don’t worry, it’s not that kind of place!”

Lara crossed her arms, taking the blow. The force managed to push her back a few feet before her body came to halt.

“It was really peaceful! Very “safe haven”-esque if you know what I mean.”

He pushed off her forearms and performed a backflip, landing on his feet before continuing to press her by throwing a chain of punches in her direction.

“Well that’s good, at least. As long as their peaceful, then I won’t consider them our enemies.”

She blocked and parried his strikes, throwing a front kick to his chest to send him stumbling back.

“Careful, son, you’re telegraphing.”

“Gyah! Okay, my bad.” He regained his footing and pressed forward again.

“But yknow, they even have to just be “not our enemies.”, he seems friendly enough and he’s really strong! Definitely stronger than either of us.” He performed a clean jab-front with his right and then twisted his body to land a blow to the midsection with his left. It sunk into her side, causing her to lose her balance. Pran then came around and did a roundhouse kick, his shin connecting with her jaw.

“Maybe we could be allies?”

Lara was knocked to the ground. She was feeling around her jaw as she sat up and looked at him.

“Good shot! Much better!”

She hopped up to her feet and started bouncing. She was getting a little fired up! That was almost never a good thing for Pran though…

“I’d like to wait a little longer before we consider interacting with them on that level. I don’t mind you hanging around him, but let’s just see how it all plays out down the line.”

“Okay, no problem!”

“Now, I’m gonna have to pay you back for that attack just now!”

“Hey wait a minute! You hit me first!”

Pran felt like he was fighting for his dear life as he was barely managing to avoid her attacks. Things had ramped up from 50% to 75%! Her speed had increased dramatically, even under this gravity. He had to turn up the heat in response, but his body wasn’t exactly prepared to keep up with him! With his sore, weakened muscles, blocking was the most he could do! He was being pushed back easily! It wasn’t long before Lara broke through his defense, and landed a bunch of chops and jabs across the entirety of his upper body.

“Oof! Ah! Gah! Woah!”

By the end of the assault, Pran was in a daze.

“What happened to holding back!”

“I am holding back!"

“LIKE HOLDING BACK HOLDING BACK.”

“I AM!”

“NO YOURE NOT!”

“YES!”

“NO!”

“YES! NOW I HAVE TO PAY YOU BACK MORE TALKING BACK!”

“YOU JUST WANNA GO ALL OUT!”

“NO!”

“YES!”

“NO!”

Lara forced him to put out about 85% of effort, which was getting dangerously close to 100%. He wanted to believe that she was mostly playing around, but at this point it was anyone’s guess. He fought back with whatever he could muster, not that it was enough.

After a solid round of fighting, the spar finally ended. Pran was completely out of breath and drenched in sweat while Lara’s breathing had only gotten slightly heavier than before. She turned off the chamber while her son sat down on the floor to catch his breath.

As the conditions returned to normal, she walked up to him and helped him up to his feet.

“See, that wasn’t bad at all!”

“Yeah… for you. I’m so tired. I think some of my wounds reopened.”

“Nahhh, you’re fine!” Ehhh, you’ll be fine! Besides, that was the only workout you were going to get today. Now, I’m going to show you what the next phase of your training is going to look like. We’re gonna head back to the garden.”

“Ooh, I’m excited.”

As they made their way back towards the village, Pran halted and began to sniff. His mother noticed and stopped.

“Who is it?”

“...I’m not sure, but I smell something metallic. And it’s uh… Pretty familiar.”

“Go back to the village, I’ll deal with this.”

“No wait, I kinda wanna do this. Besides, I can use my Genki to make up for any disadvantages my body has from my injuries.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I only smell one of them, so it’s not like an army like last time.”

“Just be careful. And don’t be afraid to ask for help. I’m not that far away.”

“I’ll be okay, mom.” Pran replied, a white aura beginning to coat his entire body. His muscles became more defined and slightly bulged. To someone who was untrained, it would appear as if he went from someone who was in recovery to one that was practically just entering his prime. Ki can really do incredible things if you put your mind to it.

His mom left as a…human entered, walking toward Pran. The metallic stench was definitely coming from him, but it was not at all what he expected. Every step it took had a lot of weight to it. On top of that, this dude was HULKED out. He was 8 feet tall and JACKED. He was at least a full size bigger than he was, also not a good sign. Add that to the weird constant smile and upbeat positivity that was written across his face, it didn’t look like this was going to be a fun time.

As it approached, it began to speak?

“WELL HELLO THERE PRAN, MY NAME IS C2! I'M HERE TO KICK YOUR ASS AND DRAG YOUR BODY BACK TO THE BIG MAN!”

Great. It knew his name. And if it knew his name, it meant that whoever was behind this also knew who he was. He probably shouldn’t be surprised, given that they already knew where his village was in the first place. On the bright side, maybe he could get some information out of him.

“Er, are you sure that’s your objective? Maybe it’s actually de…..corate my room!”

“HAHA, SENSE OF HUMOR, I LIKE IT. MAYBE I CAN ASK MY MAKERS TO ADD THOSE KIND OF QUIPS TO MY PROGRAMMING.”

Alright, so it was an android. Must be one of the weirder models. He began to break into a jog. To be honest, seeing something that huge picking up the pace like that was a little terrifying. Especially since Pran’s body wasn’t in the state to tap into Yuki. Pushing his limits like that might be more punishing than rewarding right now.

“Well, it was worth a shot!”

C2 went from a jog and turned into a sprint, having perfect running form as it was going at full speed towards him! The ground shook beneath his feet, as if an elephant was charging toward him. He was fast, closing the distance between the two considerably. Pran managed to dive to the side, but he felt a tight grip on his ankle as he did so, stopping his movement right there. Before he knew it, he was being DRAGGED THROUGH THE DIRT!!

“HAHAHA! YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO BE QUICKER THAN THAT!”

C2 would then jump in the air, landing on the ground and SLAMMING him INTO THE GROUND! His body CARVED a crater into it, sending a shockwave radiating throughout the land.

“HAHAHA, COME ON. JUST GIVE UP ALREADY!”

The android would pick up his body, turn around and SLAM HIM INTO THE OPPOSITE SIDE! Now standing in between two craters, he’d repeatedly do so, going and forth mercilessly!

“WOOHOOO!! NOW THIS IS A WARM UP!”

Pran was getting absolutely ROCKED with each hit. Each meeting with the ground sent a shock throughout his entire body. It felt as if his brain was getting knocked around the inside of his skull like a pinball. The blood vessels underneath his toughened skin began to break, causing bruising to grow over his entire body from the blunt force trauma. As C2 lifted him up again, he tried to fly upwards in an effort to either just free himself or take his opponent with him. That didn’t work either, because he got pulled RIGHT BACK DOWN AND SLAMMED AGAIN!

“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?”

Letting go of his ankle, C2 took two steps back and began striking a couple bodybuilder poses!

“AH YA SEE THAT, THATS THAT HIGH GRADE OIL. THOSE TITANIUM TENDONS, THE ARTIFICIAL ENERGY COURSING THROUGH FACTORY MADE VEINS. SORRY, BUT PUNY HUMANS ARE THE PAST.”

Pran slowly began to get up, now on his hands and knees. He wiped the blood and sweat away from his lips with his forearm. This android was something else, he was going to have to get focused if he was going to get out of this one. Part of him wondered if he should’ve let his mom handle this one, but he was going to have to prove himself at some point. He couldn’t expect to be at the peak of his strength for every fight anyways.

“You’re just… a pile of junk!”

C2 stopped his posing for just a moment before walking back over to the young man.

“NAH SON,”

He brought back his foot and launched ONE HELLUVA KICK INTO HIS CHEST, LAUNCHING HIM STRAIGHT UP INTO THE AIR!

“I'M THE UPGRADE, BUCKEROO!”

To be honest, Pran was surprised his chest didn’t cave in. Blood splattered out of his nose and mouth as he practically ragdolled into the air. As he tried to gather his bearings, he heard C2 scream something else:

“HEY BUDDY, DONT GET TOO COMFORTABLE UP THERE! HMPPPFFF!!!l”

The android LEPT AFTER HIM, arms out wide to bear hug him!

Pran was ready this time though, as he formed a ki sword in his right hand with a combination of Yuki and Shoki. He propelled himself downward, aiming to cut this cyborg in half! He reached his arm all the back before taking a BIG SWIPE, slashing C2 across the chest!

Disrupting the attack, he avoided the grab before landing on the ground gracefully. Meanwhile, there was a loud BOOM!! When the android fell back to ground feet first. Pran gritted his teeth as he looked back at his adversary, already knowing that the cut was too shallow for any meaningful damage.

“WOHOHOHO!!” C2 exclaimed, turning around toward him to show off a MASSIVE cut across his chest. “LOOKS LIKE YOU GOT SOME SPARK IN YOU AFTER ALL.”

He got into a fighting stance before dashing towards him again.

“Yeah, I got a little somethin somethin!"

Pran performed a flip over the pompous hunk of junk, letting him pass under him. With his back exposed, he fired a few ki blasts at it, a series of miniature explosions going off after that. He wasn’t sure if he could win if he fought him directly, but if he could work around him like this, he’d at least have a chance!

“ALRIGHT, THAT WAS A LITTLE CUTE, BUT HOW ABOUT YOU REALLY HIT ME!”

C2 ramped up the intensity, practically disappearing from sight. He reappeared behind Pran with his arm pulled all the way back.

With his sense of smell however, the latter could see the attack coming from a mile away. He looked over his shoulder and bent his knees sharply, ducking under the blow. He felt the wind hit his face demonstrating the power behind that blow. If Pran had been hit with that, it could’ve been trouble.

C2 followed up with a downward punch, but ended up going through an faded image of what he thought was his target! The afterimage technique, he had fallen for it! Pran came up from behind him, flooding as much Genki as he could into this punch.

“Alright buddy, you wanna get hit? LETS GO!”

COURTESY OF MATO, 100 MEGATON PUNCH!”

He did a sharp twist, putting as much power into it as he could! He thought for a moment, if he could manage to output his father’s signature techniques, he’d have a chance!

KRAKAKOOOOMMMM!!!!

A fist sized dent was put RIGHT INTO C2’s chest as he was THROWN BACKWARDS OFF OF HIS FEET! What he did was a pale imitation of the full power of what his father was able to dish out, but at least Pran actually managed to put him on his ass for once.

It wasn’t without cost though. Not only did outputting that much energy drain him, it’s not like the android was made of paper. He could feel a fracture in his hand from that blow. He wasn’t sure how many of those he could dish out before rendering his hands unusable.

“Yeah! How’d you like that!”

“BETTER, BETTER, BUT STILL WEAK! COME ON, I KNOW YOU GOT MORE IN YOU, KID!”

Holy hell, that didn’t deter him at all.

C2 made yet another leap towards him, only this time he threw a whole ass DROPKICK TOWARDS PRAN WITH ALL OF HIS WEIGHT BEHIND IT!

The human crossed his arms to block, but it’s not like it mattered. The amount of damage reduced was negligible as he was SOARING ACROSS THE GRASSY FIELDS! He grunted as he landed on his back, starting to see double. Before he could even get a chance to take a breath, he saw the android above him with both his arms reeled back! He was intending to follow up with a MASSIVE SMASH!

Crap! So much for conserving energy!

Pran clashed with his attack with a POWER DESTINY SHOT FIRED FROM HIS LEFT HAND! The two powers COLLIDED AT MAXIMUM POWER, BUT IT WAS TO NO AVAIL! Much to Pran’s surprise, the android TORE THROUGH the beam. The blast broke the fall slightly, but it wasn’t enough. For a brief moment, he completely lost consciousness as what was essentially two BEAR LIKE ARMS CRASHED DOWN ONTO HIS CHEST!

The ground beneath them COMPLETELY ERUPTED, sending both into a MASSIVE HOLE of their creation. C2 was ontop of Pran in free fall, and the latter managed to grab him by the shirt collar and headbutt him to create space between them! Blood was flowing from his forehead as a result, but making the sacrifice play was key here! This opponent was strong, VERY strong, and unless Pran was willing to stake his life on it, he wasn’t going to win!

Maybe that’s what some of the Paracosm was about. It probably wasn’t all of it, but it was a start. To be as delusional as they were! It was time to get ahead of the curve!

“IS THAT ALL?”

“I SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THE SAME QUESTION!”

“OH HO, NOW WE HAVE A BACKBONE?”

“YEAH, AND I’M ABOUT TO TEAR OUT YOURS!”

“GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT!”

“HAAAAA!!”

“HAAAAA!!!”

Both of them, almost in sync, pushed off of each other’s feet and slid down the sides of the hole. They both jumped off of it towards each other, each one planning on throwing HAYMAKERS AT EACH OTHER. Pran tried his father’s punch yet again. He needed more Genki than before. How much more? A LOT MORE!!

“1,000 MEGATON PUNCH!!!”

BOOOMMMM!!!

BOTH FIGHTERS SLAMMED EACH OTHER IN THE FACE WITH TWO HEAVY STRIKES! FLINGING EACH OTHER BACK INTO THE ROCKY WALLS THAT SURROUNDED THEM!

“OOOF!”

“GAH!”

C2 recovered quicker than Pran, and jumped toward him! Intending to bury him deeper into the rock!

Seeing the android coming for round 2, he decided “fuck it” and coupled the Genki flowing in his body with Yuki, and ascended into his second state! His power exploded outward as he caught the android’s punch, counterattacking with a gut punch before uppecutting him towards the top the hole!

“OOF!”

“SORRY BUDDY, BUT I DON’T HAVE A LOT OF TIME, SO IT’S TIME TO END THIS!”

Pran ROCKETED upward after him, charigng whatever he had left into his hand. This was it, he could feel it. He practically feel the spirit of his father coursing through him. In a way, it was as if he was still here.

“GGGGRAAAAAHHH!!! I’M ON YOU!!!

10,000.

MEGATON.

PUNCH!"
HE THREW HIS FIST FORWARD INTO C2’s CHEST, SENDING OUT A RIPPLING SHOCKWAVE THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE AREA.
THE WIND KICKED UP TO HURRICANE SPEEDS AS IT TORE UP THE LANDSCAPE. HIS PUNCH TORE A HOLE THROUGH HIS CHEST, OBLITERATING HIM FROM THE INSIDE OUT!

“WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!” The android cried out as it’s sorry excuse for a soul was TORN FROM ITS BODY!

As for Pran, his arm was practically rendered useless from the impact. His entire forearm been completely broken from the strain. His energy was completely depleted as well, his energy dropped rapidly back into his base form. His body plummeted towards the surface next to the abyss he came out of, and it looked it was about to be a rough landing.

Before he could hit the ground however, a figure came out of seemingly nowhere and caught him. She slowed her descent with her flight, gently placing him on the ground. It was Lara, who had been watching from nearby the entire time.

“Hey kiddo, I’m here now. You’re going to be okay.”

“Mom?”

“I was never too far away, everyone in the village could hear and feel your battle. I came here earlier, but I decided to respect your decision until I knew you were in real danger. I’m so proud of you, you came such a long way.”

“I’d say something but- ack- everything hurts.”

“Yeah, somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” She replied, chuckling.

Pran weakly smiled, but something then popped into his mind.

“Hey mom, is that guy still around?”

“I mean… what’s left of him. Why?”

“Do you think there’s anything in the- ow- wreckage that could tell us where he came from?”

“Sure but- Maybe later. Right now, we have to get you some medical attention. You’re defintiely not doing anything for a while at least.”

“Okay- ow- I just.. Wanted to make sure we’d check. Holy crap, I don’t think I can even THINK about my arm right now.”

“I’ll carry you to the village and we’ll at least bandage you and get some rest.”

“Hey mom?”

“Yeah?”

“Did I look cool?”

Lara smirked as she carefully picked him up, flying back towards the village.

“Just like your father.”

"Awesomeeee.”

When they made it back into the village, Pran and Lara were quickly greeted by the rest of the villagers. They praised him not just for defeating someone who was once again threatening their way of life, but for his survival. They cared about each of their neigbors like family, and they all tried to look out for each other in any way that they could.

Pran was in his room, as his mother felt like it would be better if he could recover in there instead of another medical bay for the next few days. She had tucked him in and wrapped his arm in a cast and rebandaged all of his old wounds and took care of his new ones. Part of her felt guilty about not trying harder to fight in his stead, but something told her that this was an important part of her son’s journey to reaching his full potential.

TWC: 9,613