PL: 64,883
Gravity Chamber (0.5x): 50x Gravity
Training Mix 8/10: 10%
Super Weighted Clothing: (75%)
Training Dummy: 25%
Suppressed PL: 16,221

Quash yawned as he woke up from his nap inside his ship in the middle of Yunzabit Heights. He slowly got up from his bed and looked at the sheets. He frowned upon seeing the red patches that covered them. It looked like his wounds reopened overnight, probably due to tossing and turning. Once he went to examine his body, it looked like he even bled through the bandages. Perfect. On the bright side, he felt significantly better than he had been the last couple of days. He wasn’t sure if he was going to make it because of how severe his injuries were.

After his fight with Liari, after looking death in the face, Quash was not a particularly happy camper. He knew it was a miracle that he could stand here today, which was oddly worse than dying on the battlefield. He was hoping he’d die a warrior’s death. Instead, he had to live with yet another failure. He had gotten so much stronger, and yet he still felt so weak. When was he going to prove his worth? Would he ever? He let out a loud, frustrating sigh as he made his way out of the bedroom and down the hall towards the bathroom. He had to go get cleaned up.

Cold water covered Quash’s entire body as he gave himself a “wake-up shower”. The stinging pain he felt from the soap and water hitting the open cuts around his body was a painful reminder of how weak he still was. He could tell his body was tired, and honestly, it wasn’t just physical. His mentality and his emotional state had gone through the wringer. Feeling an overwhelming sense of dread, he sat down on the shower floor, bringing his knees up to his chest and letting his arms rest on them. After that, he just let the water hit him for a little while.

The power he faced still haunted him, he still had chills just thinking about it. The fact that Quash had to figure out how to surpass a power like that was a bit much. To be honest, he thought he’d have a better chance sticking to the original plan and just beating Athren. At least then he knew he might not get absolutely molly whopped against him if he even lost at all. It was hard to believe such an innocent, childish blue alien managed to turn into a monster. He had lost a friend as quickly as he gained one, and that was never a good feeling.

Quash took a deep breath, knowing that it was time to get up and hop back to it. That was the only thing he could do now. He never backed down from a challenge before and, though he was certainly not in a good head space, knew intuitively that he couldn’t afford to start now. Liari was not just a threat to him, but potentially to the entire universe. If he couldn’t stop her here, what chance did the rest of the other worlds have? He had been on plenty of them, and none of them even came close to replicating this kind of might. He had already failed his race once before, he wasn’t about to let it happen again.

He grunted as he stood up, fighting through sore and torn muscles. He turned the shower off and got out of it, taking a towel off the rack mounted on the wall next to him to dry himself. Quash put the towel up to his face and screamed into it out of frustration and anger. Taking the towel off, his eyes widened as he saw the majin’s face clear as day! He stumbled back in shock and fell onto his buttocks, feeling fear all throughout his body. He close his eyes and rubbed them before opening them again, seeing no one there.

Not good. He was starting to hallucinate.

He got up again, gritting his teeth in anger. Anger that was directed towards his own weakness, towards how fearful he had become of the powerful foes that he was normally anxious to fight. He walked over to the sink and stared at himself in the mirror. While he saw the same face he always saw, he was able to see past that. He was able to look inward into his own soul, and he felt like he couldn’t recognize what was there. How the mighty have fallen. Athren was right, his rank didn’t mean anything if he couldn’t wield power worthy of such a title.

Quash punched the mirror in front of him before storming out of the bathroom and into his bedroom to get into his training clothes. He took a large swig of his training mix, holding back any outward reactions to the taste. Yep, it was still pretty shit. He covered his wounds with another clean set of clean bandages before putting his regular clothes on. Strapping his weights on afterward, he made his way toward the Gravity Room. Making his way down the hall once again, he used his Ki Sense to see if he could pick up Jorey’s ki. Nothing, he guessed he stepped out for a bit. It looked like this time he was going to have to train alone.

Quash was pretty okay with this, considering he was already used to being a solo act at this point. Besides, no offense to his friend (acquaintance?), but he always had to hold back a little during training. Unfortunately, Jorey hadn’t quite reached his level yet, so he wasn’t able to handle what Quash would normally be willing to do by himself. With him gone, at least for now, he’d be able to take advantage of his valuable time to put really push himself. He thought he was finally ready to try to push the Artificial Gravity to the maximum of 50x. It was a nice milestone he reached, but he knew it was nothing to celebrate over. After all, Liari was probably able to handle more than 100x Gravity with the power she possessed.

While he was already going to try and increase his power in general, Quash knew that he needed something different if he was going to face Liari again. A brand new technique in his arsenal, in fact. However, it couldn’t just be any old ki blast. This attack had to be powerful, a real show stopper. He was lacking in the “raw power’ department and he intended to fix that. Knowing that he likely wouldn’t be able to keep up with her speed and agility, especially with her elastic limbs and her malleable body, he figured that an energy attack from a distance would probably be best for facing someone like her.

Quash entered the Gravitron as he continued to think of the ki wave that he was planning to create. He needed to not only give it a lot of power, but he needed to be able to do damage control if something happened. After all, the attack he had in mind was probably going to end up taking a lot of energy out of him. Once released, he’d probably be very vulnerable to attack. If he missed, it might just be game over from there. He continued to think of possible solutions as he approached the Gravitron console and turned the dial to 50x Gravity. As expected, Quash was able to move just fine.

He looked over to the other side of the room, finding the new training dummy that he recently acquired. He had completely forgotten about it, but he figured that now was as good of a time as any to put it to good use. Quash walked up towards the Training Dummy to take a good look at it. How did he turn this thing on again? It wasn’t immediately obvious, which was probably a good thing. It probably would’ve been really annoying to fight a robot at supersonic speeds and end up accidentally turning it off because he hit it in a certain area.

Quash noticed a close compartment at the top of the Dummy’s head. He tested it to see if it opened and… walla! It opened up nicely to reveal a red button labeled “POWER”. Well, that was pretty straightforward. He tapped the button and closed the compartment, proceeding to take a few steps back. The Training Dummy began to come to life, its eyes lighting up as it immediately assumed a battle position. A robotic voice came from it, giving Quash instructions on what to do next.

“Say “FIGHT” to initiate the training sequence. Say “STOP” to halt the program.”

Quash took a moment to commit the commands to memory. “Fight” to go and “Stop” to stop? Seemed simple enough for him. Taking on his fighting stance, he prepared himself for whatever this bucket of bolts was going to throw at him. “Fight.” He commanded. Without hesitation, the dummy leaped toward the Captain’s direction with a straight jab. Quash caught it but was immediately struck in the stomach by a metal knee. He was normally able to tear through normal earth material with relative ease using his own power, what material was this robot made out of?

As the fight continued, Quash had to hand it to the manufacturers. They definitely knew exactly what they were doing when they built this. The robot’s coordination and technique were spot on, it was like he was fighting an actual person. It was even performing feints and employing different strategies against him. He wondered how the designers of this machine managed to capture all of a fighter’s mannerisms down to a T. He blocked a blow, the force pushing him back to the other end of the wall.

This was great and all, but he still had a technique to create. Quash began to think of ways to ensure a more accurate hit, and he got an idea. What if he was able to control the direction of the blast? It would certainly solve a lot of his problems, plus he’d make it more versatile as a result. It was going to take a lot of Ki Control, but he figured that he’d make it work. First thing’s first, he had to create an attack to redirect in the first place. Quash needed to practice gathering that much ki into one area, which would be difficult. He thought it would be best to try with the Dummy on the attack. He wanted to be able to do it under pressure. Plus, in a real-life scenario, it’s not like his opponent was going to stand there and let him charge it up. Especially not someone like Liari.

When the Training Dummy when to attack him again, Quash used the afterimage technique to create some space in between him and the robot. He appeared on the other side of the room, forming what started out as an initial Ki Blast in his hand. As the machine took a moment to look for where Quash’s new position was, the Saiyan try to concentrate as much energy as he could into the energy ball to make it more powerful. He was too slow, however, having to fire off his attack prematurely as the robot found him sooner than he thought. It was a slightly bigger than average ki blast, and the Dummy had gone through it like it was almost nothing.

Quash narrowly avoided the next blow, ducking to dodge a punch that went through where his head was a second ago. He dashed away and performed a series of flips to put more distance in front of him once more. He told himself that he needed to faster, that if he was fighting Liari at that moment he could’ve easily been killed right then and there. Flooding his ki into one area was child’s play, he was better than this! He needed to try again. When Dummy rushed him, Quash tried the afterimage technique again, but this time he managed to just barely avoid the attack.

This was interesting. It looked like the dummy was beginning to learn his movements and adapting to them. This was going to be harder as this went on, so Quash figured it was best if he started learning quicker. He created a ball of ki in his hand again as he momentarily got himself enough time to charge his attack. The ki ball initially got bigger, but the saiyan began to actively keep it condensed to no bigger than the palm of his hand. The orb began to take on a red color. The Training Dummy was already sprinting towards Quash again, this time taking less time to find him than before.

Quash threw his hand forward a powerful red beam of energy came surging out of his hand, striking the dummy square in its chest and causing it to be blasted towards the wall. It hit it with a loud, metallic “CLANG” sound before slumping to the floor. While the saiyan was glad that he was able to fire off an energy beam, but was disappointed with its power. He needed it to be stronger. A lot stronger. Quash began to charge his attack again as the Dummy hopped back to its feet. The Dummy seemed even faster now, its leg speed significantly faster than before. It ran in a zig-zag pattern to make it harder to hit.

Quash launched his attack once more and… it missed! The robot dashed to the right and let the energy beam soar passed it and landed a solid uppercut into his jaw! He let out a painful grunt as his body was sent into the air. The robot jumped to follow up with an overhead smash, but the Captain used his flight to dodge the next attack. He then carried out a small series of kicks to its abdomen before sending a powerful right hook to its jaw to send it away again He had to be fast, already readying his energy wave once more.

Quash was already trying to make it more powerful, sending even more energy to his hand this time. The condensed orb had grown in size, covering the saiyan’s whole hand now. Before the dummy could get back up, he send an energy wave that was more powerful this time, though admittedly not by much. The dummy was hit again, this time taking noticeable damage as opposed to the first energy wave. Quash lowered himself to the ground, assessing his results. A step in the right direction for sure, but still not good enough. He still needed more power. The Training Dummy staggered back to its feet and rushed Quash again in the same zig-zag pattern.

The saiyan went to dodge it but ended up falling onto his knees. Not good! He was too slow on the recovery and got kneed square in the face by his metallic training partner. With the condition his body was in, Quash was spending energy he didn’t exactly have. He was beginning to feel the effects. He’d have to figure out what to do soon. He could wait until another day, but where was the challenge in that? Procrastination wasn’t exactly something Quash did, and he’d no doubt feel even worse about himself if he did. Instead, he vowed to himself that he’d get it to be usable today. There was no time to lose!

He was kicked in the stomach by the Training Dummy as a follow attack, sending his body to the wall. Quash grunted as he slammed into the side of the Gravitron. He lifted up his finger and fired his Lima Laser at the Dummy’s kneecap, but it appeared to already be prepared for an attack like that. It jumped into the air to dodge the attack, landing feet first right onto Quash’s side. He cried out in pain as his already damaged body took on a bunch of additional weight. His adrenaline kicked in, which allowed Quash to force himself to his feet as the Dummy got some distance of its own.

Quash began to charge again, but the robot knew what to expect at this point. It lunged forward as soon as he had begun, aiming to interrupt his attack. The Saiyan used the Afterimage technique again, trying to stall for time. The robot read through this too, and, without even looking, raised his hand to the side and caught Quash by the throat. It slightly choked him before it slammed in on the ground underneath him. It raised its other hand, ready to repeatedly punch the saiyan’s face until it couldn't recognize it anymore.

Seeing what was coming, he threw his feet upward into the robot’s midsection to kick it off of him. It looked like Afterimage wasn’t going to work against it anymore, Quash needed a new plan. He tackled the dummy before it could fully recover, pinning it to the ground. He held his hand right up the training dummy’s face, beginning to charge his attack. The robot squirmed, trying to get out from underneath Quash’s body, but the saiyan put his full weight on it. It wasn’t going anywhere. He could feel a huge amount of energy drain from his body as he blasted the Training Dummy at point-blank range.

Amazingly, the Gravitron was still intact. So was the robot, even. He seriously needed to find out how the Earthlings made this. These were more than the top of the line, they were legendary! Quash stumbled to his feet, clearly tired from having used so much energy. The robot, like it was nothing, stood up once more as he backed away from it. It made sense since they didn’t exactly have lungs or real muscles anyway. Oddly enough, this was kind of getting his heart pumping. The stress was pushing him to master the technique faster than normal, and he was. That last blast was the most powerful he had thrown so far. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t good enough. He needed more power, he needed it to feel like he was throwing a hail mary at whoever he was fighting because, at the end of the day, that’s probably what it would end up being.

Quash decided to give himself a break and switch gears, going back to exchanging physical blows with the Training Dummy. They bounced around the Gravitron at breakneck speeds. A kick, a punch, a headbutt, they were throwing all kinds of attacks at each other. As the sparring match raged on, He could feel himself slowing down, starting to block more and more attacks that he was dodging earlier on in the fight. The robot continued to adapt to Quash’s fighting style to the point where it was avoiding almost all of his attacks. Not only was it able to parry and dodge them, it even went as far as to seamlessly transition into various counters.

As the Captain threw the next punch, it tilted its head to the side to avoid the attack, grabbed his arm, and threw him over its shoulder. Quash was sent face-first into the ground with a loud metallic thud. Predicting that another attack was headed his way, he rolled to the side to stay on the move. It was a good thing he did too. Sure enough, he narrowly avoided a knee strike to his stomach. He got back on his feet, managing to successfully block the next attack.

“Stop.”

The robot froze in place for a moment before it began to slowly go back into its default position. As much as Quash wanted to say he could keep up with the machine, his body was not in the condition to fight at the level he would need to be at. However, he had a better idea. He opened the door to the Gravitron and stepped out of it. He didn’t bother to turn it off, knowing he’d be back momentarily. He just needed to get something from his bedroom. Quash continued down the hall back to where he was sleeping, going to his closet.

Quash opened it up, immediately seeing his Three-Section-Staff. He picked it up in its folded position before closing the closet door and headed back to his Gravitron. Since the Training Dummy had gotten used to his movements, he figured if he spiced things up he’d probably have a better chance at creating an opening for himself. Feeling the gravity shift as he arrived, Quash decided to practice gathering his energy to create a stronger blast before turning the robot back on. Leaving the staff against the wall, he’d walk towards the center of the room and began to gather energy into his hand again.

An aura was ignited around his body as began to power up, trying to recover the energy that he lost when building the basic building blocks for his new attack. Once he had completely replenished his ki, he’d get back to work. The energy orb made an appearance once again and took on the same red color. Quash closed his eyes, trying to put all of his concentration into keeping the power he was creating under control. It continued to grow until it had completely swallowed his hand. After a moment or two of gathering ki, his hand began to shake. He was struggling to maintain control of that much energy. Eventually, he’d be forced to release it.

Quash launched the energy toward the Training Dummy, so that he wouldn’t accidentally punch a hole in the Gravitron. He already knew that its body would be able to withstand the attack and soften the blow before it reached the wall behind it. As the energy blast headed toward its intended target, a large spiral had taken shape around the, now larger, energy beam. A shockwave rang through the entire Gravitron as it struck the Dummy, pushing it against the wall before fading away.

Quash couldn’t help but be a little impressed with himself, feeling how strong the energy attack was. He was almost there, he just needed a little more power and it would be exactly where he needed it to be. Now knowing what to do, he decided that it was a good time to put the robot back into “FIGHT” mode. He walked over to grab his weapon and then simply gave it the command to continue.

“Fight”.

The robot came back online and immediately lunged at Quash, but it was met with a Staff to the face! It was flung right back to where it was previously. The Captain couldn’t help but smile triumphantly, knowing it definitely didn’t see that coming. By the time the robot got back to its feet, Quash had already begun to charge his attack once again, holding the staff by its midsection in one hand.. The energy ball shined a lot brighter than before as it was packed with more energy. Quash started began to focus harder than he ever had, channeling so much energy that electricity began to spark around the sphere of ki.

This was it. This was the power he was looking for. The robot moved forward in a zig-zag pattern once again, knowing that an energy blast was coming and not wanting to get hit. Quash waited for it to get close so he wouldn’t miss his opportunity to land the attack. Once the Dummy was right in front of him, he knew that it was now or never. He came up with a fancy name as he launched the attack, now deeming the technique worthy of a title of its own.

“BOK CHOY BLAST!”

A bright light from the resulting explosion filled the entire room. A shockwave radiated throughout the entire ship and caused it to shake violently. As the energy began to dissipate, Quash fell to his knees in exhaustion. Yeah, that was the kind of attack he was looking for. He looked at the robot he struck and saw that had been completely decimated by the attack, reduced to pieces. Well, it looked like he’d had to repair it somehow. Did this ship have automated repair systems? He’d have to check.

He tossed his Staff to the side, feeling accomplished with what he had done. Still, it wasn’t over yet. Now that he had forged his attack, he had to move on to Phase 2, redirection. Controlling ki after it had already been fired was going to be a difficult task. In fact, he was fairly certain he hadn’t seen anyone other than the most elite soldiers perform such a feat back on Planet Vegeta. He wouldn’t let that stop him, knowing that he would’ve had to go down this route anyway if he wanted to be the best.

Not wanting to risk damaging anything important, he stuck to trying to control a weaker version of the blast and proceed to work his way up. He began to charge his attack once more, allowing it to build up a little before firing. He’d keep his arm extended out to control the blast, but it proved to be futile. The energy proved to be unresponsive as it struck the wall again. Quash had the feeling that this was going to take a while.

Quash continued to try again and again over the course of what felt like an eternity. He was starting to wonder if he was even going about it the right way. After all, he wasn’t taught how to do anything like this back home and he knew no one on Earth that could help him. Or at least, he knew no one on Earth that would be willing. Saiyans were still seen as a very real threat, and he was still suffering the effects of what happened.

Suddenly, during one particular attempt, Quash had managed to control the blast he fired! There was some power that was lost during the direction change, but he managed it. It looked like he was doing the right thing after all. Now, he just had to keep going until he was able to control as much as he could! He went to try another attempt, hopefully, this would be a lot better!

Or maybe not.

Quash’s entire body had almost collapsed right there. He had a huge overwhelming feeling of fatigue. He had pushed himself a little too hard, and now he was feeling the consequences. He had no choice but to call it a day here. He stumbled over to the controls and turned off the Artificial Gravity. He’d have to continue this another time. For now, he needed rest. He made his way back to the bed for some good ol’ shut-eye. As he climbed into the sheets, he couldn’t but think how the robot managed to keep up with his Afterimage technique. He thought about fixing that. If some random machine would be able to keep up with it, there was no doubt that foes like Liari and Athren would be able to as well.

Quash began to drift off into sleep, considering this training session a huge success.

WC: 4527