Jan 16, 2024 16:49:19 GMT -5
Post by Pran on Jan 16, 2024 16:49:19 GMT -5
Rookie: 65% increase in gains
Callion’s warning was heard around the entire planet, including Pran’s village in the Eastern Continent.
It came at the worst possible time.
Pran and Lara had examined the wreckage of the android that they had taken out a few weeks ago. A logo had been found among the remaining parts: a red ribbon with the initials RRA written across it. They had no idea what it meant or what it stood for, but whoever the “RRA” was had to be behind the attack on the village back when he was a child. They must know where his dad might be. Pran had been in town asking around in a few cities but to no avail.
One thing he also noticed during his travels was that the public opinion towards not just Saiyans, but all extraterrestrials as a whole had been dropping at a rapid pace. Hate groups had begun forming, with many of them calling for those not from Earth to leave. It was a sorry sight to see, and something told him that this build-up was only going to lead to Earth being in worse circumstances in the future. Part of him wanted to do something about it, but this is the first lead on his dad that he’s got since he started looking for him.
Now on top of that, now the planet is facing impending doom again, and who knows who’s going to show up to stop it? The message didn’t come without consequence either, as it caused unrest to grow within their village here. So far, Hazel Village had been far enough removed from the cities to avoid major disasters, such as the Orange and South City attacks, but deep down everyone knew that they couldn’t hide forever. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before NOWHERE was safe to hide on Earth. Out of all the attacks so far, this was the first time a warning was broadcasted across who knows how far. Was this a sign of the waves of conflict escalating even further than they were before? Who knows who could be affected?
Many villagers had begun creating doomsday plans, whether it was underground bunkers, evacuation, hoarding food, or anything that would give them peace of mind. Lara had been doing her best to reassure everyone that she would protect them no matter the cost and that they would be fine, but it wasn’t convincing to most. She had been training on her as well, also unsettled by the news. She wasn’t sure how much stronger she could get, but she knew she had to at least try. She might not be able to protect the planet, but her duty was to her people first and foremost. If it came to it, she could at least buy time for them to escape. She had already lost her husband, she wouldn’t lose anyone else.
Pran kind of wanted to go talk to Athren about it, as he had to have heard the message too. There’s no way that some random stranger singled out the no-name village people for no reason. Though looking back at the kind of person he seemed to be, the boy figured that he was probably training hard for it already. A go-getter, that guy appeared to be. It only made sense that he’d match that same energy. He went to Lara, who was currently in a clearing to meditate in order to clear her mind and take a break from helping out in the village with everyone’s sudden influx of errands. Or at least she would be if her son wasn’t there to distract her by freaking out.
“I’m not going to be able to focus on finding Dad until this threat is over and done with. I need to start training mom. You’re the only person who can help me get stronger at this point. I’m still so far behind the curve here and I don’t know what to do. The last time I saw Liari I was still so far behind her despite all I did already…”
“Hold on, we’re not sure if it’s even Liari. We don’t know what’s coming.”
“That’s even worse! Her showing up is the best case scenario. The worst case is that it's someone else. And considering the standard for “total disaster level threat” already, if it's WORSE than her we’re all in some deep doo doo. I’m not sure who could surpass her though, so she’s gotta be what that random guy was talking about, right?”
“It’s the only thing I can think of, but we’ve been wrong before.”
“That is NOT comforting.”
“Okay, okay, Pran, please- relax. Nothing’s going to get solved by freaking out. Whatever he was talking about isn’t here yet, so we still have time.
“Okay, okay… So what do we do now?”
Lara stood up from her meditation position and faced him.
With Lara standing over him, Pran had decided to use this place removed from the main chaos to train by doing 10,000 push-ups. Despite the massive strength he had acquired over time, he still found value in doing the old fashioned training methods. Lara took it upon herself to keep count, as she wanted Pran to simply focus on the present moment. To focus on keeping form and technique, without knowing how close he was to finishing them. It also served as a mental training of sorts, as it can be easier to keep going if you know you have made a lot of progress.
His shoulders and triceps began to burn as he continued to do them for what felt like an eternity. Though, Pran didn’t mind it. The more his muscles began to ache the more he took comfort in knowing that he was pushing himself. It reassured him that he was actually going to be able to get something out of this exercise, and he wasn’t merely coping . He would be more equipped for the coming threat, and would save as many lives as he could.
Sweat beat down Pran’s forehead as he ran laps alongside the entire village to work on his stamina. If he had learned anything from fighting the Queen of Saiyans and Liari, is that he had to be prepared to be in it for the long haul. Those two were practically pure balls of energy compared to him. The last time he fought them he was the first one to run out of gas before either of them really slowed down.
Not this time. Whatever he was going to do, he had to be prepared to see it through to the end. Each breath he took began heavier and heavier as the run went on. What was 30 minutes turned into one hour, then two. In terms of total distance, he was meeting marathon levels. By the end of it, he was drenched in sweat and completely out of breath. His leg muscles were screaming at him to sit down, but like his father taught him: The best thing to do was to stand up straight and breath in your nose and out of your mouth.
Training shoki, the mental discipline of ki, was always a tedious endeavor. It was a lot less glamorous than physical training. This time however, he was being taught a particular technique by Lara this time. By connecting your shoki with someone else’s, it was possible to establish a communicative link with them. The buzzword for this was telepathy, and that’s what Pran would certainly call it. Right now, he was practicing establishing said link.
It took a couple tries, as trying to match your wavelength with another person was a tricky maneuver. And that was when it was a willing participant who already knew what was coming. Trying to do this with someone who wasn’t expecting it was going to be very annoying, to say the least.
Remember Pran, you must be able to establish the link and maintain its stability. The other person’s thoughts are going to be muddled if it starts getting shaky. Think of it like a phone with bad connection. She said telepathically.
Right. Understood, mom.
There’s another neat thing about this connection, actually. Provided the participant is willing, you can enter their Paracosm.
HOLD ON, YOU MEAN YOU COULD’VE CAME WITH ME THIS WHOLE TIME?! THAT WOULD’VE BEEN NICE TO KNOW!
Haha! Well, I wanted you to learn how to navigate it yourself first. Besides, one’s paracosm is a particularly private space and I wanted to make sure you had that for yourself.
Oh. Well, uh th-
Now focus!
Ah! R-right!
Shadowboxing always felt weird for Pran, as fighting an imaginary friend always felt awkward. Especially if other people were watching. However, it was undeniably a good tool for perfecting technique. Moving like he was in a fight would allow him to reveal bad habits that he hadn’t been aware of and also perfect any decrease in posture. While some of this was due to him running pretty low on energy at this point, Lara was able to point out important mistakes in his movement and footwork.
“You’re still telegraphing too much.”
“Be careful how you land after that kick, you’ll end up breaking an ankle if your opponent catches you.”
“Stay loose, Pran, stay loose. Being tense like that will only slow you down.”
“Careful. Don’t wind back too much, you wanna use your waist to generate momentum for that punch.”
After about a half hour of throwing punches and kicks at the air, he began to move much more fluidly. His attacks had increased dramatically in speed by minimizing wasted movement, and he was beginning to seamlessly transition through attacks in a series of powerful blows. Lara began to nod in approval, seeing him become a much more efficient fighter right in front of her very eyes.
“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!”
The sun was setting as Pran and Lara spent the remainder of their time back at the mediation clearing again, concluding with a good ol' fashioned sparring session. He had demonstrated what he learned to great success. He had been able to pull off moves that he wasn't capable of doing before, even catching Lara off guard a couple of times, which was practically unheard of the last time they sparred in the Gravity Chamber. As they fought, she could tell that he was even with her in terms of raw skill. It touched her heart to see her son grow into his own man, and she began to wonder what was next for him. That is, if he could survive this new enemy that had appeared.
After exchanging blows for a solid hour, their training concluded. As they both sat down across from each other to rest, he was still unsatisfied despite all that he had accomplished today. Despite what he would gain from this whole experience, he felt like it wasn't enough.
"I don't know mom, I'm not sure it's enough."
"To be fair honey, we'll never know until the time comes."
"Yeah. but this is different. These guys we're dealing with, heck, even the guys that I've had to fight lately... They've all had stuff I've never even seen before. If I'm gonna stand any chance, I need to bring something they haven't seen before too."
Pran stood up.
"There's nothing else you can teach me? You and Dad had a lot of techniques that you haven't taught me yet. There's nothing you can show me?"
Lara was a little hesitant.
"Well there's- I don't know."
"Mom, please."
"You aren't ready for it. You don't have the Ki Control to keep the power under wraps. You've just barely gotten good at Shoki today. If you use it and you can't control it, it's only to come back to hurt you. You're in enough danger as it stands."
"I get it, but we don't have time. There's not going to be a time when I'm ready if I don't bring something big to the table. I think it's worth the risk given the state of things, right?"
"I understand, but-"
"If there's more I can do to help. I have to try."
Lara saw the look in his eye. There was no convincing him otherwise. She sighed, standing up.
"Okay, okay. But we're NOT going to rush this. Until I feel like you have a handle on it, I'm not going to move forward with the next step of your training."
"Fine by me! You won't regret this!", Pran exclaimed excitedly, "So uh... What am I learning?"
"It's something I picked up on right before I met your father, but I didn't master it until very recently. I call them... the Colors."
WC: 2,132
Callion’s warning was heard around the entire planet, including Pran’s village in the Eastern Continent.
It came at the worst possible time.
Pran and Lara had examined the wreckage of the android that they had taken out a few weeks ago. A logo had been found among the remaining parts: a red ribbon with the initials RRA written across it. They had no idea what it meant or what it stood for, but whoever the “RRA” was had to be behind the attack on the village back when he was a child. They must know where his dad might be. Pran had been in town asking around in a few cities but to no avail.
One thing he also noticed during his travels was that the public opinion towards not just Saiyans, but all extraterrestrials as a whole had been dropping at a rapid pace. Hate groups had begun forming, with many of them calling for those not from Earth to leave. It was a sorry sight to see, and something told him that this build-up was only going to lead to Earth being in worse circumstances in the future. Part of him wanted to do something about it, but this is the first lead on his dad that he’s got since he started looking for him.
Now on top of that, now the planet is facing impending doom again, and who knows who’s going to show up to stop it? The message didn’t come without consequence either, as it caused unrest to grow within their village here. So far, Hazel Village had been far enough removed from the cities to avoid major disasters, such as the Orange and South City attacks, but deep down everyone knew that they couldn’t hide forever. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before NOWHERE was safe to hide on Earth. Out of all the attacks so far, this was the first time a warning was broadcasted across who knows how far. Was this a sign of the waves of conflict escalating even further than they were before? Who knows who could be affected?
Many villagers had begun creating doomsday plans, whether it was underground bunkers, evacuation, hoarding food, or anything that would give them peace of mind. Lara had been doing her best to reassure everyone that she would protect them no matter the cost and that they would be fine, but it wasn’t convincing to most. She had been training on her as well, also unsettled by the news. She wasn’t sure how much stronger she could get, but she knew she had to at least try. She might not be able to protect the planet, but her duty was to her people first and foremost. If it came to it, she could at least buy time for them to escape. She had already lost her husband, she wouldn’t lose anyone else.
Pran kind of wanted to go talk to Athren about it, as he had to have heard the message too. There’s no way that some random stranger singled out the no-name village people for no reason. Though looking back at the kind of person he seemed to be, the boy figured that he was probably training hard for it already. A go-getter, that guy appeared to be. It only made sense that he’d match that same energy. He went to Lara, who was currently in a clearing to meditate in order to clear her mind and take a break from helping out in the village with everyone’s sudden influx of errands. Or at least she would be if her son wasn’t there to distract her by freaking out.
“I’m not going to be able to focus on finding Dad until this threat is over and done with. I need to start training mom. You’re the only person who can help me get stronger at this point. I’m still so far behind the curve here and I don’t know what to do. The last time I saw Liari I was still so far behind her despite all I did already…”
“Hold on, we’re not sure if it’s even Liari. We don’t know what’s coming.”
“That’s even worse! Her showing up is the best case scenario. The worst case is that it's someone else. And considering the standard for “total disaster level threat” already, if it's WORSE than her we’re all in some deep doo doo. I’m not sure who could surpass her though, so she’s gotta be what that random guy was talking about, right?”
“It’s the only thing I can think of, but we’ve been wrong before.”
“That is NOT comforting.”
“Okay, okay, Pran, please- relax. Nothing’s going to get solved by freaking out. Whatever he was talking about isn’t here yet, so we still have time.
“Okay, okay… So what do we do now?”
Lara stood up from her meditation position and faced him.
“What we can.”
With Lara standing over him, Pran had decided to use this place removed from the main chaos to train by doing 10,000 push-ups. Despite the massive strength he had acquired over time, he still found value in doing the old fashioned training methods. Lara took it upon herself to keep count, as she wanted Pran to simply focus on the present moment. To focus on keeping form and technique, without knowing how close he was to finishing them. It also served as a mental training of sorts, as it can be easier to keep going if you know you have made a lot of progress.
His shoulders and triceps began to burn as he continued to do them for what felt like an eternity. Though, Pran didn’t mind it. The more his muscles began to ache the more he took comfort in knowing that he was pushing himself. It reassured him that he was actually going to be able to get something out of this exercise, and he wasn’t merely coping . He would be more equipped for the coming threat, and would save as many lives as he could.
Sweat beat down Pran’s forehead as he ran laps alongside the entire village to work on his stamina. If he had learned anything from fighting the Queen of Saiyans and Liari, is that he had to be prepared to be in it for the long haul. Those two were practically pure balls of energy compared to him. The last time he fought them he was the first one to run out of gas before either of them really slowed down.
Not this time. Whatever he was going to do, he had to be prepared to see it through to the end. Each breath he took began heavier and heavier as the run went on. What was 30 minutes turned into one hour, then two. In terms of total distance, he was meeting marathon levels. By the end of it, he was drenched in sweat and completely out of breath. His leg muscles were screaming at him to sit down, but like his father taught him: The best thing to do was to stand up straight and breath in your nose and out of your mouth.
Training shoki, the mental discipline of ki, was always a tedious endeavor. It was a lot less glamorous than physical training. This time however, he was being taught a particular technique by Lara this time. By connecting your shoki with someone else’s, it was possible to establish a communicative link with them. The buzzword for this was telepathy, and that’s what Pran would certainly call it. Right now, he was practicing establishing said link.
It took a couple tries, as trying to match your wavelength with another person was a tricky maneuver. And that was when it was a willing participant who already knew what was coming. Trying to do this with someone who wasn’t expecting it was going to be very annoying, to say the least.
Remember Pran, you must be able to establish the link and maintain its stability. The other person’s thoughts are going to be muddled if it starts getting shaky. Think of it like a phone with bad connection. She said telepathically.
Right. Understood, mom.
There’s another neat thing about this connection, actually. Provided the participant is willing, you can enter their Paracosm.
HOLD ON, YOU MEAN YOU COULD’VE CAME WITH ME THIS WHOLE TIME?! THAT WOULD’VE BEEN NICE TO KNOW!
Haha! Well, I wanted you to learn how to navigate it yourself first. Besides, one’s paracosm is a particularly private space and I wanted to make sure you had that for yourself.
Oh. Well, uh th-
Now focus!
Ah! R-right!
Shadowboxing always felt weird for Pran, as fighting an imaginary friend always felt awkward. Especially if other people were watching. However, it was undeniably a good tool for perfecting technique. Moving like he was in a fight would allow him to reveal bad habits that he hadn’t been aware of and also perfect any decrease in posture. While some of this was due to him running pretty low on energy at this point, Lara was able to point out important mistakes in his movement and footwork.
“You’re still telegraphing too much.”
“Be careful how you land after that kick, you’ll end up breaking an ankle if your opponent catches you.”
“Stay loose, Pran, stay loose. Being tense like that will only slow you down.”
“Careful. Don’t wind back too much, you wanna use your waist to generate momentum for that punch.”
After about a half hour of throwing punches and kicks at the air, he began to move much more fluidly. His attacks had increased dramatically in speed by minimizing wasted movement, and he was beginning to seamlessly transition through attacks in a series of powerful blows. Lara began to nod in approval, seeing him become a much more efficient fighter right in front of her very eyes.
“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!”
The sun was setting as Pran and Lara spent the remainder of their time back at the mediation clearing again, concluding with a good ol' fashioned sparring session. He had demonstrated what he learned to great success. He had been able to pull off moves that he wasn't capable of doing before, even catching Lara off guard a couple of times, which was practically unheard of the last time they sparred in the Gravity Chamber. As they fought, she could tell that he was even with her in terms of raw skill. It touched her heart to see her son grow into his own man, and she began to wonder what was next for him. That is, if he could survive this new enemy that had appeared.
After exchanging blows for a solid hour, their training concluded. As they both sat down across from each other to rest, he was still unsatisfied despite all that he had accomplished today. Despite what he would gain from this whole experience, he felt like it wasn't enough.
"I don't know mom, I'm not sure it's enough."
"To be fair honey, we'll never know until the time comes."
"Yeah. but this is different. These guys we're dealing with, heck, even the guys that I've had to fight lately... They've all had stuff I've never even seen before. If I'm gonna stand any chance, I need to bring something they haven't seen before too."
Pran stood up.
"There's nothing else you can teach me? You and Dad had a lot of techniques that you haven't taught me yet. There's nothing you can show me?"
Lara was a little hesitant.
"Well there's- I don't know."
"Mom, please."
"You aren't ready for it. You don't have the Ki Control to keep the power under wraps. You've just barely gotten good at Shoki today. If you use it and you can't control it, it's only to come back to hurt you. You're in enough danger as it stands."
"I get it, but we don't have time. There's not going to be a time when I'm ready if I don't bring something big to the table. I think it's worth the risk given the state of things, right?"
"I understand, but-"
"If there's more I can do to help. I have to try."
Lara saw the look in his eye. There was no convincing him otherwise. She sighed, standing up.
"Okay, okay. But we're NOT going to rush this. Until I feel like you have a handle on it, I'm not going to move forward with the next step of your training."
"Fine by me! You won't regret this!", Pran exclaimed excitedly, "So uh... What am I learning?"
"It's something I picked up on right before I met your father, but I didn't master it until very recently. I call them... the Colors."
WC: 2,132
