T’charrl was feeling less certain that he would be able to manage the more he stared at the rocks and high walls of the rather terrifying valley, already feeling incredibly small. This place was a bit too big for him to feel comfortable and despite all the safety precautions that had been taken he was still worried about his safety. He knew it was best for him to get on with this training thing, he needed to get stronger and less clumsy, but staring at the sharp rocks that could easily tear him apart he couldn’t help but feel rather nervous. What if he wasn’t going to get any stronger? What if he ended up completely destroyed and just not getting stronger despite it? He was scared for sure, more about whether he was going to be able to make his parents proud as well as King Nema. Maybe if he actually tried to get stronger when he was growing up instead of talking to trees and dead people he would be in a much better place. He really had to try hard, he couldn’t let it beat him even if he was the weakest Kaesstrian trying this thing.

Slowly looking to his father as he tried to make him feel better about the course he frowned and tapped his claws together, feeling just as nervous even with the reassurance. Gasping as the wind suddenly tore its way through the chasm he stumbled a little before looking to his father who was flying now. He didn’t know if he should try spreading his wings whenever the wind came around again, knowing he might end up hurting himself if he tried that immediately. His father was experienced and could handle it, but he had barely ever flown in any condition that’s not simply forest. “Travelling to other worlds isn’t the same as something like this! This is pretty crazy…”

He knew he was going to have to try his hardest, especially if he didn’t want to end up causing so much trouble to everyone and barely get strong at all at the end of it. So many people had worked hard to make the chasm as ‘safe’ as possible for him so that he could get stronger through training, it would be awful if this whole thing turned out to be a complete failure. Hearing the wind approaching again he held up his arms in anticipation before nearly falling over again, looking up to his father before to Haku. “Uhh…y-yeah…he is…” His father was his idol. He wanted to be just like him, to have that strength and confidence, to be able to face danger like this head on. It made him pretty upset that he was almost the complete opposite of him, but maybe one day he could find confidence like his dad could. ”You know I am? I mean, I might not get it right, but I can definitely try my hardest…” he spoke slowly as he tried to consider it all, his nerves hardly letting up despite him trying to feel confident. “I-I am a prince! My genes are supposed to be strong meaning I am strong! I can do it! I can…hopefully…umm…I-I don’t know where to start with this…”

--

Shu hadn’t been sleeping very well lately if much at all, not because his head was hurting or anything still but as everything else continued to pester him with nothing going his way. Nobody was caring all that much and were just going on their merry way, especially Takeshi who continued to ignore the fact that anything happened. It was always the same, nobody trusted him with anything. He just wanted to show that he was capable, but that wasn’t going to happen if nobody let him do what he wanted even if it was dangerous. He didn’t know what he was supposed to be if he was being stopped from doing what others were perfectly capable of accomplishing, he didn’t understand why he was such an exception to this rule. He wanted to just get on with things despite feeling kind of tired, but feeling that way was just all the time for him so he shouldn’t be feeling too bad about that part. He wanted to show he was strong, but nobody was giving him a chance.

Since they were supposed to be training today Shu was all ready for it, even if his head just wanted him to lie down all the time. He didn’t have time to be all lazy though, he needed this to show he didn’t need to have people take pity on him and throw matches just because he was slightly hurt. Keeping fairly quiet as Takeshi prattled on about Krom he sighed and rubbed his hands together quickly, not responding to Takeshi. He knew he shouldn’t show anger, he kept being told that he had to learn to control it if he didn’t want to transform. Staring at his hands he frowned a little in his own frustration, not really knowing how he was supposed to emote if he was supposed to suppress certain ones but was not feeling too happy himself. When Takeshi decided to talk to him some more he raised his shoulders, already feeling like Takeshi was instead wanting to remove him from training. He wasn’t very good at training with Krom’s instructions, he couldn’t control his transformation not to mention he was completely paranoid over the thought that there was more wrong with him than just having that. He didn’t know what was wrong with him and nobody was telling him anything. “No! No wanna go! Need to train!” he snapped suddenly, his eyes closed tight, “Just cause you feel fine! No feel fine! Need train if Shu get strong enough…why you no want Shu to train? Need the training more than you!”

"Uh... I d-don't know anything about genes, but I know you're s-strong, T'charrl. I've seen you fight plenty enough to k-know that," Haku said with a weak laugh, rubbing at his neck as he looked at his friend. He'd been both an ally and an enemy to his friend which was probably something not many could claim for themselves. He knew firsthand how terrifyingly powerful T'charrl could be when he wanted to, and when he didn't want to be as well. If, no... When T'charrl mastered that power for himself he was going to be as powerful as any Saiyan out there easily. They'd all seen what he could do and now it was just a matter of T'charrl believing how strong he could actually be. Smiling as Yusef came down to rejoin them he had to ask about the training as well, something just didn't seem right. If it was strength training that T'charrl needed why were they doing this? Why not something like sparring, or lifting weights, the sorts of things they did on Kortal?

"We planned on having him fly with heavy loads to build strength at first, it probably would be easier than this too," Yusef admitted as he drummed a claw against his chin, "But then we spoke we your friend Vegeta, and a man named Aito. He they are both intelligent and Aito called himself a doctor so we decided to ask what he thought about training and what the most effective way to build muscle might be. He and Renthal agreed an exercise using most of the body made sense, and just flying with weights wasn't going to do that. Vegeta suggested then we try swimming, which our people... Don't exactly do. But with that idea in mind we thought of flying against powerful winds, it would be like flying against a current, no? So we decided something like this would be best. King Nema found a location for use to use and the rest you know." They were certainly gracious for the aid his son's friends had provided them, with everyone's combined efforts surely T'charrl was going to be able to accomplish this.

"Of course... One doesn't begin at the top with training and work their way down, we start on the ground and climb up. That is exactly what you'll be doing starting today, my son." Yusef moved back towards the chasm and stood at the side of it, smiling as he gestured T'charrl and Haku forward. From where they stood gentle gusts were all that could be felt, but surely once you stepped inside they would be stronger. "To start you'll simply stand in the chasm and try to resist the wind. If you cannot stand against it then flying will be impossible," the general explained, taking pause as workers above called down that their work had concluded. Nodding graciously and waving to them he moved into the chasm and with his back to the wind stood still, folding his arms as a gust assaulted him. Though he leaned forward slightly Yusef did not move, and when the wind died down did he finally relax. "You can face the wind or put your back to it, the point is to learn to maintain body posture against a force. After you do that then we'll move to the next step, but this is where we begin, understand?"

----------

Seriously though, how did anyone expect them to be okay with training with Krom? Even if Takeshi himself ended up going along with it the guy had been one of those responsible for Shu's torture, why did anyone think being with a guy like that was a good idea? And yet when Takeshi turned the question on his brother he was defiant, clamoring that he needed the training regardless and that he needed the training. Sighing as scratched his cheek the older boy shook his head, frowning as he looked towards the doors. "It's not I don't want you to train buddy, I just don't want it to be with him, you know? I mean of all the guys who could do it whys it gotta be this jerk?" If Shu was okay with it then he really ought not to be complaining but that didn't mean he had to like it. Muttering to himself about what a lousy arrangement it was Takeshi put on a smile and put an arm around Shu's shoulders. "How about we just spar a bit before he shows up? Just a warm up, you know? Get all loose and whatever before he starts working us like dogs." Just what exactly was Krom going to have them do anyway? They vaguely knew it was meant to help Shu not fly off the handle and transform but that was about it, no one had really gone into the specifics with them.

“Uhh! I-I come from a line of large Kaesstrians is all…I mean we had to fight to be considered royalty. You know, survival of the strongest and fittest…? Ehh, anyway…” T’charrl sighed, feeling a little embarrassed since he was none of those things and explaining it to someone else simply made him feel a little down on himself. “It’s fine, I mean…I’m just not as strong as my parents are…” He had no idea whether he was going to become strong doing this but hopefully he’ll at least be able to catch up to his father. Everybody seemed to overestimate him just because of one thing he managed to do and all the difficulties he had gone through. Those didn’t make him feel stronger, he was pretty weak when compared to everyone else, he just had some sharp weapons and an energy that nobody else used on the battlefield. That was an advantage he held over a lot of people, but in a fist fight he would probably lose pretty badly against the average fighter.

Staring at his father as he spoke about the current plans he was very much not looking forward to what he was having to do, but luckily it sounded like a lot less of what they had planned for him prior to being spoken to. He was worried about things like that, trying to lift things and getting nowhere with it. He didn’t want to just get sore arms or strain his wings so much, he wouldn’t get stronger that way he’d just be in pain. He didn’t mind pain too much, he had become used to it after the General tortured him for two straight weeks and when he had to endure a sandstorm. He didn’t want to be debilitated instead of getting stronger. “Uhh, swimming…? I don’t even know how I’ll manage something like that…” he frowned, looking briefly to Haku, “Will I even be able to be saved from the water if I sink…? It would be a disaster if I died before we completed this stuff…”

With wavering confidence T’charrl followed slowly after his father, his eyes gazing at the chasm as he rubbed his claws together. This was already terrifying to him, but that was nothing new. This was just awful altogether for him and there was no other way to feel about any of this. He was always used to flying pretty close to the ground but with this high a wind it was making him pretty nervous. Looking to his father when he explained what he was going to have to do he slowly nodded, raising his shoulders pretty high compared to what they usually were. “Uhh…just like that…?” he questioned him as he watched him demonstrate, almost wondering if he was actually heavy enough to withstand the wind. He was a pretty light kid so he had to be prepared. Slowly moving towards the chasm, thinking maybe he should start with his back to the wind first. “Uhh, o-okay! I can do this! I’m ready!”

--

Shu didn’t care that it was Krom they were needing to be with, nor did he care that the goal of him training with Krom was to try and not have him fearing his transformation. Barely any progress had been made but he didn’t care, he just wanted to not end up slacking off all the time because Takeshi was taking him around all sorts of places. He felt he understood it now after the way he had been treated at the tournament, but he wasn’t going to let Takeshi do that to him anymore. “Who else? No people want to train me…” he muttered, looking away when Takeshi got close to him. Takeshi probably didn’t think much about it all, he was strong enough and was quite happy to show off how strong he was. Letting out a groan as Takeshi tried to find something to do still he frowned deeply, folding his arms pretty tight as he kept his eyes off him. “Oooohhhhh….guess so…but no go anywhere else! Want to get better at fight! Not want to be bad at fight!” It was probably important what Krom was doing if they were letting him be near him like that, but he didn’t know if Aito was going to be around this time to watch over Krom and make sure he was going to behave. Aito had to help Viral now and who knew if it was going to bring him along too. “Fight good with Shu! No play!”

"Just like that. I know it seems intimidating but you can do this, if I didn't think so then I never would have brought you here." Yusef would never ask any of his men to do something he himself could not, even more so his own son. Was it still dangerous? Of course, it was potentially fatal if T'charrl made a wrong move and ended up being smashed against the rocks. All of the safety precautions in the world could only do so much and there was a very good chance the only thing between T'charrl and an early grave might be Haku. Grim tidings aside they were starting with a much easier exercise, one that at worst would result in a bump or bruise, and only once they had worked out even the most basic aspects would they work their way up to the harder exercises. "If its of any consolation the winds at the bottom of the chasm are far less violent," the General explained as T'charrl got into position, "The rocks at the bottom help to break up the winds and its wider as well, more area for the winds to spread out in. It's nothing you haven't dealt with before while flying, so just focus on keeping your posture for now, you'll do just fine my son."

----------

"If it makes you feel better people ain't exactly lining up to train me either buddy. I mean we're pretty strong too so I doubt just anyone can train us, you know? I bet old man Roshi couldn't train us now, we're probably leagues above what he can work with." Shu being able to change didn't have anything to do with it far as Takeshi was concerned. Sure the little guy could change if he got pushed and it'd take someone really strong to deal with him, but even when not transformed Shu was a bit much for most people. As lousy as this arrangement of theirs was Shu didn't appear to mind it at all, he was only focused on getting stronger and everything else be damned. Scratching his cheek and looking at Shu curiously the older boy shrugged his shoulders, smiling as he placed his hands on his hips. "Fine, we'll get better at fighting together. If it means we can kick this asshole's butt a little then I'm all for it. Uh... By the way..." Takeshi added, trailing off for a moment as he looked away and rubbed at his neck before smiling nervously at his brother, "You're... Not still mad about the whole tournament thing, are ya? I mean I've apologized like a dozen times by now..."

T’charrl gave his father a nervous smile before turning away again, hoping he wasn’t going to screw this up. He knew of the dangers if he did happen to give up halfway, he didn’t want any of that when things were so dire. It was just a little bit of wind, that’s all. Maybe a lot of wind but to him it was better than being punched in the face over and over again. Feeling fair nervous he glanced at his father, still not feeling terribly confident even if he basically told him this was the easiest level of training. “Oh…I’ll try. I won’t falter! Or at least I hope I won’t…” If he could do just this one thing he could show that he wasn’t a coward or a weakling all in one go. He was pretty determined now, he was going to show his father he could do it. Moving forward a little bit he soon jumped right in, not catching the wind immediately until he started to feel hesitant again. It was strong and hurt his chest on first blow, but he was quick to dig his feet in to stop his light frame from being blown down. His father made it look relatively simple, but even if this was the ‘weakest’ wind it still felt like he got straight punched in the chest. Keeping his claws tucked in and his wings tight against him he closed his eyes, but once the wind stopped he fell forward a little bit, gasping before shaking his head. “How long do I have to do this…?”

--

Shu let out a snort, folding his arms pretty tight again. He didn’t see himself as strong, if he was strong he would’ve been able to control himself and not get hurt in such an easy way. He was terribly inexperienced and just not fit for battle, everyone knew and told him this. It wasn’t fair to have everyone think he was weak because of who he was: just some little kid who didn’t seem to grow up beyond a young age. Takeshi was much bigger than him despite the pair only being a year apart. “Mister Roshi could! He just not here…” Maybe if he showed he was strong people wouldn’t keep treating him like he couldn’t and shouldn’t fight alongside them, he was a Prince after all even though that meant nearly nothing to him. He didn’t know what one did or whether they were supposed to do anything fancy, only that it was something that was apparently a big deal especially in Saiyan society. Still feeling rather moody he kept quiet for a moment, sighing a little before giving Takeshi a very short lived look. “Shu mad for many things! Shu not always mad…but Shu is mad just now…” he spoke quickly, keeping his eyes off Takeshi again, “You no get Shu not mad so easy! Can be angry for as long as can be, no need all that sorry! Not until people believe in Shu…”

"Be confident my son, I know you are capable of this! Steel yourself and be the mighty tree against the gales!" It was nothing that was outside of T'charrl's power and if his confidence would just remain he'd be as powerful as anyone else on this planet. The moment his son entered the chasm was tense for everyone involved and Yusef, for all his enthusiasm, felt himself grow somewhat uncertain as T'charll prepared. They had tried to boil the exercise down to its simplest parts for his sake and start from the ground up, quite literally in this case. Would it be enough? The wind came and the Prince managed to remain planted in his spot if only just so, wavering until the wind ceased and he staggered forward. Two of King Nema's attendants helped him out of the chasm and Yusef met T'charrl at the mouth of it, smiling sympathetically as his son asked him about their training. "Until you've managed to fly against it, which we have yet to even attempt," the General answered, taking a knee before his son and placing a hand atop his head, "T'charrl, you are powerful my son even if you do not know it. Before you changed you were too, don't you see that? Even if you lacked strength you never backed down from a fight, you gave it all you had every time no matter the odds, you fought every time. Has that changed now? Or do you plan on giving it your all?"

------------

Shu was crazy if he thought old man Roshi would be able to even keep up with them now, never mind train them. They were leagues above the pervert and training with him at all would be a colossal waste of time for them now. Today was going to be one hell of a headache wasn't it? Takeshi himself was pissed they were training with Krom, Shu was pissed at him for throwing their match at the tournament, and Krom was probably angry he was having to deal with both of them yet again. Nobody was happy with this lousy arrangement of theirs! "Come on buddy, I'm not even angry for that long, it's been like... A whole day already, you know? You gotta learn to get over it..." What was this stuff about believing in Shu? What did that have to do with anything? Oh yeah, this was probably thanks to that crap with Aito wasn't it? How everyone doubting and treating Shu like a risk had made him this way, or something like that. Stupid doctor filling Shu's head with crazy ideas. Why couldn't he just have his doofy, go-lucky brother back? He wasn't used to Shu being grumpy, not for this long, and he definitely wasn't used to Shu being mad at HIM for that long. "Well if you're gonna be angry then I guess you can take it out on Krom? That's good right?" Takeshi asked with a grin, "Or... Er... Me, if you wanted to. Blow off some steam, you know?"

That wind just felt like hell to him, but at least he managed to hold his ground while it tried to knock him down. He didn’t know how he was supposed to get on with the rest of the challenges if that was the starter challenge, probably face great injuries in the future even if he tried to be careful and show how strong he was. Staring at his father he sighed lightly, rubbing his stomach a little as he tried to feel out for any pressure that might still be bothering his body from that burst of wind. “Oh right…still got to try and fly…” he muttered before sighing, his eyes staring down at the ground for a moment before looking up as his father placed his hand on his head. He didn’t really know how to respond to something like that, he never did feel powerful and didn’t know how his father was measuring his power and what it was based on. Soon enough his father made it clearer that he was basing this on: some level of determination that he had instead of strength. “I mean…I guess it hasn’t changed. I still plan on going all the way through with this”, he spoke lowly, lowering his gaze as he thought about it, “I don’t plan on giving up, I really need this. I guess…maybe that makes me strong, I just…need to get stronger in the other way. What else should I do…?”

--

Shu didn’t see any problem with Master Roshi still knowing some stuff, he was pretty wise and certainly had more combat experience than he did so he was probably pretty experienced in teaching someone like him too. It just wasn’t right to say one of their own teachers wasn’t suited for teaching them still, there was always lessons to be learned no matter the other’s strength. Feeling pretty huffy with Takeshi’s choice of words he was met with Takeshi getting all annoyed at his annoyance, folding his arms tighter in response. It was even worse that Takeshi was telling him to ‘get over it’, like it was no big deal because he wasn’t the one who had been receiving this treatment for so long. Groaning lowly he continued to not meet Takeshi’s eyes with his, not wanting to be this angry himself but he couldn’t get out of the mood. “Get over-every people do it all the time!” he squeaked angrily, throwing his arms up momentarily before promptly folding them again, “Always the thinking Shu is weak!” Not particularly in a good mood he let out a snort at Takeshi’s offer, almost bouncing out of his seat at the same time. “Fighting no make the happy! You just stand and the hitting and pretend it strong! Feel strong no make the happy! Oooohhh…the no happy make the speaky bad…no speak good when mad…”

It was easy to falter and give up when you were attempting something new, becoming discouraged was to be expected. What separated the greats from the average individuals though was perseverance and the willingness to push on even if you failed. T'charrl had done markedly well for his first attempt but it didn't seem to be enough for him, he wanted to be in the air as his father had done. Not content to leave his son doubting himself Yusef shared with him a small revelation: it was T'charrl's determination that would bring him victory, not his strength. "I've trained hundreds of soldiers in my time and you know what? It's rarely the strongest on the onset that make the best soldiers," Yusef explained as he got back to his feet and looked to the canyon, "No... It's the ones that keep on trying despite whatever weakness they have that become the best. You'll gain strength through persistence, over time you'll be unstoppable, you'll have the resolve few have and the strength to match. That is what I know you are capable of, my son. For now however... Continue to do what you have, it's as I said before - and will say again - until you understand the basic ideas we cannot have you fly yet. You must learn to brace your body against the winds, and not only that but not to falter no matter how powerful the gales might be. It takes more than just pure strength to make someone exceptional, you know this as well. So come then," Yusef said with a smile, gesturing to the chasm, "Show me, my child, the soldier that I know you can be."

----------

"I... Uh... What?" Shu was making absolutely zero sense and Takeshi found himself utterly at a loss as to what his brother was even trying to say. Something about... Being strong? Something about getting hit a lot? Giving his younger brother a quizzical look he sighed and shook his head, shrugging his shoulders as he looked away. "Look... You wanna learn to control your power right? So you don't go all monkey on us or whatever. Well once teach gets here we can start doing that, because Aito's little chats aren't gonna be enough to help, you know? And maybe you can take out some of that anger on me. Or take it out on Krom, I wouldn't mind seeing ya knock him around a bit." The bastard deserved to have his butt handed to him by Shu when he changed but that would kinda defeat the whole purpose of their training. At the opening of the doors Takeshi slid off of his seat and waited for Krom to enter the room, looking at the man with a smug grin as he crossed his arms. "I was wondering when you were going to show up, afraid you're going to get your ass kicked?" Takeshi taunted, raising an eyebrow as he raised his hands behind his head, "So what's the plan today huh? Sparring? Ki control? Or are we going to learn how to kidnap people?" the older boy pressed with a sneer, "You know, since you're pretty good at that."

There was no question about it that T’charrl was nervous about the upcoming challenges he would be facing, especially when this was supposed to be going on for a month. While he was aware that today was more of a trial run to see if he could withstand the pressures he couldn’t help but feel too brittle for these sorts of things. Maybe he should’ve tried to concentrate on planting his feet more when training elsewhere, but then again all the places he tried to train in had flat floors that he couldn’t curl his claws into. He had to try and trust himself, but it was hard when that was just the first test and he nearly fell if it didn’t stop. It was rather stressful, but he hoped he could make his father proud and actually make some suitable progress without failing completely. It wasn’t his first time training, he had trained a lot when he was growing up, but this was definitely the most different and most dangerous. It felt like he was learning to fly all over again.

As his father attempted to make him feel proud he lowered his head, feeling all sorts of embarrassed especially with all this being said around Haku. “Ohhh, please…” he spoke lowly, hiding his cheeks behind his claws, “I won’t falter, I’ll try not to! Really, I’ll try my best. I don’t want to live like this all the time, after all…” He was worried he would disappoint everyone if he didn’t try as hard as possible to do this, all that time and effort would be wasted. Looking back to his father he slowly nodded, looking to the chasm. “I am a soldier! I know I am! I can do this…” All he had to do was stand in the chasm and take the force of the wind, it shouldn’t be too hard after doing it already. Getting ready both mentally and physically he let out a sigh, slowly moving into the chasm and immediately having to brace himself as the wind didn’t let up. He had to hold his own to show his father he was capable, but he was already feeling his feet being pushed back. The previous blast of wind he took had managed to weaken him more than he thought, but he had to try. He probably looked stupid doing this, even if it was important. Holding his ground he thought he had it, but with one sudden strong gust his feet slipped out from under him causing him to fall onto his back with a sudden thump.

--

Shu was just getting beyond frustrated now. Nobody even tried to understand him most of the time even when he was trying hard to focus on the words he was speaking. Growling lowly he eventually threw his arms up before folding them hastily, looking away from Takeshi again. “Don’t care! No to care on that!” He was pretty huffy now, he wasn’t going to get his way anytime soon with the conclusion always being brought right back to the fact that he was not very good at control. Maybe that’s why they constantly treated him like he was weak and brittle, they were all scared of what he was capable of turning into. None of this was making him feel great, Takeshi didn’t even know what he was doing wrong and he couldn’t tell him exactly what was bugging him because he was too upset. Groaning lowly to himself he didn’t even look to the door when it opened, nor did he bother to get up off his seat. He knew who it was, he just didn’t care much.

Krom was all used to this kind of behaviour from Takeshi and quite frankly he didn’t care. It was always the same from him and even if he tried to make fun of him in his odd ways he held very little care towards his words. He was an adult, Takeshi just wasn’t going to cut as one anytime soon. Since Aito was busy elsewhere and still in a mood he was being monitored though other methods despite showing he wasn’t going to bail anytime soon. He had more important things to do than run on back to Kortal because he was fed up with the Princes. “Do you sit in your room trying to come up with insults? Kind of sad if you ask me”, he sighed, hardly showing any care and almost looking lazy about today’s activities, “Since your brother is still recovering from a head injury he’s not going to be doing too many physical activities, at least not until next lesson. Isn’t that just spiffy, though…? You won’t have to wet yourself over your brother getting mean on you! He already looks moody with you, anyway. As a result he’ll be meditating and you’ll be doing a ‘standard’ workout…or rather twice the workout you usually do! Lots of laps, lots of push-ups, lots of lifting all one after the other…”

"Give it your all T'charrl, I can ask nothing more of you," Yusef reassured as he ushered his son back to the chasm. As any good leader should he had done the act himself before pushing it onto his "subordinates", now it was up to them to repeat his feat. Airing on the side of optimism there was some hope that T'charrl would be able to advance to flying against the winds today and yet that simply wasn't realistic. The Prince did all he could to stand against the winds and for a time he did manage, but as expected the gusts grew stronger and the inevitable collapse was not terribly far behind. With the winds still pushing Yusef flew into the chasm himself and stood before T'charrl to block the gusts, his fur rustling wildly in the wind as he acted as a shield. "If you managed on only your second attempt you'd surprise everyone, me included, don't lose heart my son," he said as he turned his head and waited for the winds to finally subside. Kneeling before T'charrl and helping him to sit he dusted off dirt and plucked a twig from his hairs, smiling as he helped T'charrl to his feet. "It is not normal for our people to try and stand against the wind, you know this, our strength is in our wings. That said... The gusts here are not like a storm, spread out and diluted, but powerful, directed. It takes a very special way of flying to be able to stand against these winds, and you'll learn it in time, just as you'll learn to place yourself as a tree first."

"Though... Perhaps asking you to try this on your own is a bit much to begin, you've never done an exercise like this before. Perhaps then..." Looking for Haku the General called for him to come and join them, smiling as he placed a claw on his back and eased him towards the chasm. "I've an idea! Haku, you shall help T'charrl and act as a support, for the time we will simply work on the proper stance to maintain, standing on his own can come after," Yusef explained, "T'charrl? You did well for your first attempt, but let me suggest something. The smaller you are the less the wind has to strike, and the easier it becomes to make yourself steady. Perhaps instead of standing upright..." To illustrate the point the General lowered his large frame and put a shoulder forward as though preparing to tackle something, "You try a stance like this. When you fly you make yourself as narrow as possible so the wind passes over you, but standing upright that becomes harder. So perhaps try lowering yourself? And fear not, Haku will be behind you to catch you should you slip."

----------

"Nah, I sit in my room thinking of all the reasons I'm so excited to see you, teacher," Takeshi sneered as he looked away from Krom in annoyance, "The only sad thing is you getting stuck training us, so much for being a high and mighty Elite. You were so lousy our shitty old man just dumped you with us." So what was this jerk going to have them doing today? Carrying huge rocks up a hill? Running laps around the city? It came as relief to hear that Krom was actually being somewhat conscientious about Shu's injuries and not having him work too much. And then the bastard turned it around on him and had Takeshi doing double the work as though he was doing his brother's share for the day. This jerk was doing that just to spite him wasn't he? "That's fine, give me everything Shu was going to do, I can handle it," Takeshi said as he smirked, not wanting to give Krom any satisfaction in thinking he might be getting annoyed, "And I'm not worried about Shu hurting me, but he'd probably kick your ass if he could. So you should be glad we're not sparring today."

T’charrl didn’t really know what had happened and was rather where he was once he hit the ground, finding himself momentarily dazed by the impact and suddenness of it all. He thought he was doing pretty alright for what it was worth, but turns out he was just prolonging the inevitable and was heading towards collapse eventually. Shaking off the dizziness as his father came to help he stared up at him, raising a claw to grab hold onto his father with. This was only the second go and he was already finding it hard to cope, who knew how he might do further down the line. Coming back up to his feet he slowly rubbed his head as he tried to work around what had just happened. “I-I’ll try not to…really…” he sighed, feeling a bit sore after that but not willing to let it put him down. He understood that it was an unusual thing for them to be standing up against the wind like this, usually they rode on it rather than trying to fight it. “I know…I’m trying, I swear! I’ll try to learn how to fly like that too…without Ki and my abilities!”

Feeling a little sad that his father wasn’t going to let him try on his own he simply resigned himself to that fact and thought best to continue on as he was, just with his father and Haku trying to help him. He probably should try by himself, but he had already fallen once and would probably fall again if he tried to push himself too hard. “I don’t know if the issue is me being a bit light compared to others…” He was trying to face the wind correctly, but it wasn’t working too well for him in the end. He wasn’t going to be stubborn and turn down his father’s and Haku’s help, he wasn’t that kind of person. Lowering his body into the same stance as his father he shifted his feet, feeling unsure as to how this might help when he had a fair bit of fluff that would also get caught in the wind. “Okay…okay, I think I’m ready! I’ll try my best…”

--

Krom simply waved his hand at Takeshi, caring very little about what he had to say. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just don’t hurt yourself too much trying to think about the reasons why. I know you have an awfully hard time with intelligent thought…” It was already known why he was there, he shouldn’t need to keep explaining it to Takeshi over and over again just because he was too stupid to understand what it meant to have to do something like this. He was just an idiot child from an even bigger idiot. At least Shu had an excuse, Takeshi didn’t. Now that he considered it, Shu was looking like he was in quite a strong mood but one that appeared to had started long before he was even told he should still train them today. Maybe that’s why the instruction to not let him do the usual training had been given to him, but that was none of his business. “Didn’t your mother teach you manners? Oh wait!” he spoke before turning to leave again, “Now hurry up and stop being a little idiot so we can get to this training thing. Sure would be bad if you slacked off so much that you ended up dead next battle…”

Shu let out a huff, slowly shifting out of his seat and sliding onto the floor. “Stop being dummy, just go…” he muttered as he straightened his baggy clothing before slowly moving to walk out. Takeshi was just picking a fight because he saw himself as superior and got all big headed about it, not that he actually cared much that it was Krom. It was only because of the whole restriction they had with how they should handle Krom was Takeshi expressing his distaste for the man through insults that were all in all pointless. All he was doing was holding them up anyway and that wasn’t going to do them much good if only make the training session shorter, even if he was going to be doing something completely different from the usual stuff today because he hurt himself and everyone thought he was soft and brittle because of it.

--

It had been only a short while since all the chatting was done and the topic had moved on to having to talk to Vegeta, except this was going to take place elsewhere instead. Viral didn’t care at all, he was already feeling angry over everything he had been told and was simply doubting his own abilities even more. His purpose had been unclear since the beginning and now it was even more so with his mind being sent away to ‘he was simply made as a challenge to Aito and then passed on to be a babysitter’. He was angry at a number of things now and feeling disappointed in himself, left with more questions than answers after all that. Aito had decided to take him along to the training room, probably because he expected things to get bad, or maybe it was because he was juggling jobs again and was supposed to be doing something else other than this. Probably because this whole thing wasn’t on his list of things to do in the first place and he had other plans. He wouldn’t put it past him at all, he was just that kind of person. This was supposed to be ‘good’ for him, but all it was doing was building up resentment for Aito. Just what was he supposed to be doing now, anyway? He could’ve talked to Vegeta anywhere else, it wasn’t as if he was going to find somebody who would willingly train with him here either. “This is a waste of time. I regret even mentioning you told me you’d help me…”

"I know you're trying my boy, I don't doubt you are. I just don't want you to be discouraged," Yusef reassured as he got T'charrl to his feet. Haku would serve as an excellent aide for this exercise, and with his friend present perhaps the Prince would be a little more confident in himself as well. "Things take time, cities are not built in one day and warriors only become warriors after years of practice. It took me almost 5 moons to become proficient with the sword and twice as long to reach the rank of captain, so I speak from experience when I say: be patient. And do not rush, our time may be limited but its more than enough for what we're doing. Just allow yourself to fail and learn from each failure, that's how you improve." They were much like the mud bricks with which buildings were built upon - or the stones which created the castle beneath the surface - it took many of them, layer over layer, until the final successful product was completed. But perhaps he'd save the analogies for another time, he didn't want T'charrl's head to be spinning while he was trying to focus. "Now then, give it your best effort!"

"Y-You've got this T'charrl! And I'm r-r-right here to help if you n-need it!" Haku placed himself behind his friend and smiled nervously, holding his hands out in front of him just in case. Come to think of it wouldn't this be much easier if Yusef were to do this? T'charrl's father was nearly twice as tall as him and just as wide, catching the Prince would be child's play for him. "Uh... Mister Y-Yusef... Shouldn't we..." he began, promptly going silent and gasping as the howling of the wind drowned him out. Closing his eyes and keeping his hands outstretched Haku stood firm, shirking his shoulders as the wind whistled around him and slammed against T'charrl. The gusts only lasted for a few seconds but the sound made it seem to drag forever, and when the winds finally subsided Haku opened his eyes and looked up, beaming in delight seeing T'charrl still upright and without any help from him whatsoever. "You did it! You really did it!" Haku exclaimed as he jumped up in the air, hurrying over and putting a hand up for a high five before awkwardly lowering it when he realized T'charrl didn't know what to do. "S-See? Told you you can do it! You'll g-get this in no time!"

----------

"Tch, I'm just not going to waste any of it on you," Takeshi muttered dismissively as he sneered at Krom, "And it's so nice that you're concerned about me, maybe I had the wrong idea about you. Maybe you're really a good guy after all and not a total ass." As if, everyone knew the only reason Krom was doing any of this was because it had been ordered. He'd probably just as soon try to kidnap one of them again if it meant getting on their shitty old man's good side. So where they going to get to training or was this going to be all they did the whole time? Ready to get moving along with things already Takeshi clenched his jaw tightly when Krom made a jab about their mother, folding his arms to refrain from lashing out, his nails digging into his bicep as he smiled. "Don't bring her up you bastard or I'll kill you, got it? I don't care what Aito or anyone else says." Krom was over it and was quick to tell him to get a move on, and Takeshi would have shot back again if Shu hadn't echoed the guy's sentiment. Blinking in surprise and watching as Shu left the room he scoffed in annoyance, more towards Krom than anything else. Shu was probably in a shitty mood because they couldn't train together and because his older brother was in a bad mood, and he was only in a bad mood because of the jerk training him. They were supposed to be relaxing and having fun and instead his little brother was angry with him. "Whatever, let's get this over with already, don't waste my time alright?"

----------

Was this really the best course of action? They needed to make peace with each other but Vegeta had difficulty believing that a sparring session was the way to go. While certainly a way to vent some frustrations and release stress the likelihood of having any meaningful discussion - or any discussion really - was seriously stunted with the addition of flying fists to the face. "And yet father insists its our best option... Or rather, my best option," Vegeta corrected as he glanced down at himself, fixing the belt around his waist. Lacking in any meaningful clothing for such an occasion he'd been forced to borrow a set of Takeshi's clothes of all things and they were comically too small for him. The top he could get away with even if it did barely reach past his waist, but the pants were barely down past his shins, looking much more like shorts. Coupled with his business shoes - he lacked any decent training shoes - it was clearly a mashup of an outfit. Rolling his eyes and running his hand back through his hair he looked up to the doors leading to the training room and paused outside, waiting when he heard Aito speaking.

"I really can't win with you. I'm in the wrong whether I'm helping or ignoring you," Aito lamented with a sigh, shaking his head with his hands raised in defeat, "But I think you could use this, and I know there's plenty that Vegeta needs to answer for. Myself as well, but he agreed that today the two of you could have a talk. And I'm merely here as a moderator if you will." And to oversee the inevitable fight that was coming between the two, they had to be sure not to ruin the room after all. "Speaking of Vegeta... You're welcome to come into the room whenever you'd like! We're waiting on you after all," he shouted, watching the doors part and stifling a laugh spotting his son. He'd suggested finding some clothing and suggested Takeshi's but he hadn't realized just how much taller Vegeta was than the other boy. It was like he'd tried to wash his clothing and it had shrunk in the dryer. Snickering and clearing his throat as Vegeta entered the room he took a deep breath and let out a childish giggle, smiling innocently as he was given a dirty look. "Well we're all here! I guess now we can have that little chat of ours!"

"Dad, please... You're insulting Viral and my intelligence by calling it a 'chat'. I didn't dress like this so we could talk," Vegeta grumbled in annoyance, folding his arms and looking at Viral, "Though he's not wrong... We do need to talk. But he's also told me you've been keen to spar with someone and I've been meaning to get back to it myself, looks like we could both use a partner. You can thank our father for this scheme by the way, he dragged me into it. If you're going to be angry then direct it at him."

"You're the one that suggested we let him blow off steam, and in my defense you left that up to my interpretation," Aito answered back with a laugh.

"Right... I suppose I should be glad you didn't try anything more outlandish," Vegeta noted as he closed his eyes and exhaled, lowering his arms and starting to stretch himself out. "Well Viral, if you're not opposed to it then I suppose we can get started? Unless you'd rather sit down and simply talk, I'm open to either really. Though idle chatter isn't going to keep me from falling out of practice."

T’charrl was definitely trying and he was definitely wanting to get through all this, but he was worried he was going to get badly hurt and have his father worry about him in turn. It was probably going to happen a lot, but on the first day that would be pretty horrible. He wanted to get through the day with minimum injuries. “Five moons…? Yeah I don’t have that kind of time…” He only had a month’s worth and his hope was still on the fact that the others would still be on the same planet by the time he got back. Who knew what might happen during the time he was training and trying to get everything fixed up for himself, they could be off and away with no real way of knowing when they would be back again. He had so many worries, many of which didn’t even compare to being able to succeed. He just had to get tough with himself and tell himself that he could definitely do it if he tried hard enough, he had nothing to be afraid of.

Bracing himself again he held onto the ground hard with his feet, his claws clutching the stone as well as he could. One thing he didn’t want to do is flatten Haku as well, so there was that issue as well. He was still a pretty tall Kaesstrian compared to Haku, even if he was very light compared to him at the same time it would still hurt him to be suddenly slammed into. Frowning briefly when Haku expressed concern for just a moment before the wind suddenly burst down the chasm. Gasping only briefly he had his breath knocked right out of him, bracing himself like his father had told him as he shut his eyes. He really hoped he wasn’t going to fall this time, he needed to show he was strong enough to take it; however, before he even knew it the gust was over again and he nearly fell forward as a result. Looking up again he looked a little confused, giving his father a quick before to Haku, feeling confused at his gesture. “I-I did, huh…” he spoke slowly before looking at his own set of claws, holding them up in the same way Haku did, “I’ll get it! I will get it…I just…need to catch my breath. How much more of this…? It really hurts my chest…”

--

Krom didn’t care about Takeshi’s words, they were more amusing than annoying at this point. The guy couldn’t do anything to him, even if he wanted to. The kid wasn’t as strong as he thought he was, especially when it was out of spite. Despite everything that had happened between them all he was going to be the bigger man and keep to his task, knowing it was more important than punching Takeshi in the face. “You? Kill me? That’d be funny and incredibly bad for you. What would your brother think…? I don’t think the rebels will like that too much either. They don’t particularly like the murders of valuable prisoners, do they?” It was all pretty amusing. Despite his position in this place he was the one with the advantage. Nobody could touch him, nobody was allowed to touch him and he wasn’t particularly wanting to touch any of them either. Getting to the training rooms he paused for a moment when he spotted someone wearing what looked like Takeshi’s typical clothing nearby, entering the nearby room. Well that was a little weird, he was certainly a little curious now. That was pretty annoying, everyone already knew he was going to be around, they usually avoided him at all costs. “Tch! Who was that? Your little friend…?” he questioned Takeshi, looking over his shoulder, “Maybe a fan of yours? Looked like a bedroom raider to me!”

--

Viral was pretty fed up with Aito and his little plans. What was the point of this? What were they waiting for? Aito wasn’t going to tell him much, he rarely did nevermind rarely talked to him. “Hmph, Vegeta? Talking here…” Of course that was the plan, but he didn’t exactly feel insulted despite that being the plan. A punching bag probably wouldn’t had been sufficient, although he was surprised that Vegeta had even agreed to this as well. That guy was always so busy with absolutely everything, even when he was away from Capsule Corp. Speaking of Vegeta it wasn’t long before he showed himself, but staring at Vegeta he wondered if he ever had done anything like this before. He was dressed pretty terribly, what was worse was he recognised those clothes too. He looked pretty ridiculous, but definitely showed that Vegeta never cared much about fighting despite the power he had himself.

This was already ridiculous, Vegeta would never willingly do something like this. A little chat? Please, that was hardly what this was going to be. What he was curious about was whether it was mentioned that Vegeta had been mentioned in the little chat he had earlier with Aito or if Vegeta was Aito’s first idea when it comes to a sparring partner. Looking to Aito slowly he narrowed his gaze before looking to Vegeta, hearing it was actually his idea instead. So that was a surprise, but blow off steam? So either it was Vegeta actually being honest and willing to listen to him for once or simply using it as an opportunity to train himself as well. Who knew how either of them thought, they never really gave him any clues to how they really thought. Staring at Vegeta as he stretched himself he slowly shifted his foot to the side, feeling pretty suspicious of his intent. “You falling out of practice? Hmph, you hardly care if you are, you damn bookworm”, he grunted before immediately moving to punch Vegeta, “I’m not here for your amusement!”

"We must continue until you're able to withstand the winds, its perhaps the only way to ensure your body is strong enough," Yusef explained, casting a gaze into the dark chasm as the faint howls of the wind died down. "There's other ways if you want to try something else, but they're... Harder, and in some cases far more dangerous. At least this method isn't going to kill you." Just because it was the safest, simplest option didn't necessarily mean it was going to be easy. But if T'charrl hoped to control his power and some day the spirit he needed to be powerful - both of mind and body. A handful of attempts was hardly going to be enough but the General saw no reason to keep pushing his son and risk injury, they could take small breaks every so often and let him rest.

"It's not as simple as it seems, hm? And flight is even harder still," Yusef went on as he approached a container, freeing the lid before stealing a fruit from inside. "But I promise that if you can manage this then you can manage anything. It's always been in our nature to take shelter against strong winds, or travel on the ground to avoid being thrown about. Only recently have we started learning to fly against gales, and its making us stronger for it." Cracking open the fruit he handed half to each T'charrl and Haku, sitting his large frame onto a fallen log with a sigh. "Listen, T'charrl... I'll be honest. What King Nema and I discussed and what we read suggested that we would need to take the most extreme measures to manage your situation given the time we have, and what we're ultimately going with wouldn't be enough. But I'm confident that you'll prove that worry wrong, because I know you're going to give it your all every single day. If I know anything about my own child it's this: he gets his mother's persistence," Yusef said before laughing heartily, "And I believe you got my appetite! It's a dangerous combination, you might keep this training up later just to stay slim!"

----------

"Whatever, just shut your damn mouth about our mother, you got me? You don't know anything so don't pretend like you do." Admittedly he knew just as much but it wasn't Krom's place to speak about her. The only one who could say anything would be Yamate, for as much as he hated that man he had fathered Takeshi - and presumably Shu too - and one would imagine then knew where their mother might be. Leaving Shu to his own devices was a little worrisome but he should be alright provided nothing spooked him while they were gone. On their way to a training room they caught a brief glimpse of Vegeta on his way elsewhere and the sight of his friend made Takeshi's face go red. "Why the fuck's Vegeta wearing my stuff? Did he break into my room?!" Not that he tended to lock his and Shu's bedroom but still, who went and stole someone's clothing? And just where the heck was the guy off to dressed like that? Whatever, he'd ask Vegeta about it later and demand his clothes back provided he even remembered to. Following Krom into the training room Takeshi walked to the far end and began to stretch himself out, keen to get things underway and with luck beat the snot out of the guy if given the chance. "Alright, so what's the plan? Going to make me do a thousand push ups? Run 200 laps? Whatever it is give it to me, I can handle whatever you have in mind." He was taking on his and Shu's load and it was probably going to kill him - not literally hopefully - but whatever it was he planned on taking it in stride. No way in hell was he giving Krom the satisfaction of being unable to do the training exercises.

----------

"I do care, it's just I tend to be preoccupied with work," Vegeta said defensively, sighing as he shook his head, "Nor did I ever propose-" Oh they were starting! Hastily leaning back and avoiding taking a punch square to the face Vegeta stepped back and leaned to avoid another punch, pushing Viral's paw back and swinging at the air in retaliation. He was technically meant to be here as almost a punching bag but it wasn't quite in his nature not to fight back; standing there not fighting would provoke Viral and make things worse, it wasn't even an option to simply stand still and take it. Why precisely had he agreed that this was a good idea? Wouldn't sitting down and talking be easier? Then again sharing everything with Viral - the real reasons behind what he'd done what he had - this was likely going to happen anyways. Brushing aside another fist Vegeta quickly had to raise his arms and block another blow, being forced back as his feet dug into the floor and he slid, lowering his arms and wincing as he shook them to regain feeling. Hell of a strike, he could almost feel the frustration in that one. He was going to be mighty sore by the end of this wasn't he?

T’charrl frowned at his future plans, wondering just how much he was going to be able to withstand before he was broken. It was an awfully short amount of time to practice and get stronger in for when he finally set out, but he wasn’t going to give up either. These were mostly just winds, it wasn’t the same as trying to hurt someone or defend yourself against a soldier, he still needed to learn better combat techniques too. There was so much he was needing to do and such little time to do it, it was almost feeling like it was just going to kill him in the end. “I-I don’t know about doing something harder…I mean, I don’t want to die either”, he spoke, nervously smiling before looking away again, “I know I should take it slowly, I don’t want to end up hurting myself to the point I can’t recover in time. I’m more worried about a strong wind coming soon when I’m not quite ready and caving in my chest…”

He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, he was pretty worried about flying the most for sure and knew he definitely wasn’t ready for that. It was all so difficult for him for sure, but seeing his father go off to get something for what could possibly be a breaktime. Moving after his father with his claws against his chest, staring at the fruit he had picked out of the storage container. “Oh, I didn’t know because…so much time spent underground I never got to see…” he spoke slowly, taking the fruit and staring at it before slowly looking to his father again, frowning. Even hearing that didn’t make him feel terribly good about this whole situation, this was all too important for him to ignore. Knowing he would’ve needed to go through tougher training just to have a chance while it still not being good enough made him feel rather concerned, knowing he was going to have to try extra hard just to keep up with his father’s and King Nema’s expectations. Letting out a groan as he stared at the fruit he slowly raised his shoulders, feeling a little embarrassed. “I-I don’t get fat! I don’t even think I get muscles…” he spoke defensively, shaking his head, “I eat a lot…but I have to eat a lot too! I’d lose control if I don’t get enough energy…” Quickly eating at the fruit he gobbled it down, staring at his claws for a moment before looking back at the chasm. “I hope I don’t have the food forced out of me by that wind. Is there a peak time the wind gets too strong…?”

--

Krom snickered before letting out a sigh, shrugging his shoulders. “Well duh! You’d have to be an idiot to think I do! I was ten or something when Yamate decided he wanted some kids! Must be frustrating for you though, you can’t even make fun of my parents when I didn’t even know them or care about them!” he spoke quickly before waving his hand, “You have nothing on me. Besides, shouldn’t you be learning to not use your words and instead use that energy to make yourself stronger instead? Shu already knows how to do that! Shame he has no method of controlling that yet…” Speaking of Shu he was being awfully quiet and even looking at him he didn’t seem to want to be part of any of it. When Takeshi said who that was who had taken his clothing he smirked a little, finding it rather funny that one of his friends would do such a thing. Funny how that guy’s name was ‘Vegeta’ and yet he seemed to be a bit of a nerd to go and steal someone else’s clothes to use the training room. Wonder who he was training with? Who cared really, he had better things to do. Once they were in the training room he looked around slowly before looking to Takeshi, narrowing his gaze before letting out a groan. “So now you decide you want to be willing to cooperate. What’s going to happen is you’re going to be running with extra weights while I irritate the hell out of you! You’re not to go off course and you’re not to get angry and yell at the top of your lungs unless you want Shu to suffer. Shu’s going to have to sit there and try to keep himself calm and collected throughout he whole thing. He needs to find inner peace and calm over hearing your lunacies over and over, you got it? You blow up and you’ll be finding you’ll be taking steps back. I ain’t doing no sparring with you until Shu is better!”

--

Viral was wasting no time getting in on the action, shame Vegeta was barely doing much to retaliate. He had been brought in here to train with him surely, he didn’t actually expect him to start talking to him while they were fighting like this, did he? He wasn’t going to be confronting him on any issues, he had already had enough of that even if Vegeta had a lot to answer to. Just how was he supposed to ask, anyway? Aito was an idiot if he thought he was going to go ahead and start talking about all of these things with him while they were battling. Throwing his fists at Vegeta he found all he was doing was dodging and not actually fighting back much to his annoyance. It was just typical, he didn’t want to just use him to get out all his frustrations. “Would you fight back?? If I wanted to hit dead weight, I’d be far away from here!” he growled angrily, going back in and throwing more punches, “It’s enough of a question as to why I am even here in the first place if for everyone’s amusement!” He didn’t need to be here using Vegeta like this, he needed someone who was actually willing to put up with him; instead, he was surrounded by people who wanted to see him sort out his own problems, even when these problems were impossible to fix on his own. “Stop holding back against me!”

"That won't happen T'charrl, we've taken extra care to make sure it doesn't. The reason so many people were brought along is we've established a network through the chasm, an early warning system if you will. If a strong gust pushes through they send word down our way and we let it pass. Nema has some system to gauge the strength of winds and he assures me it's foolproof." Of course having so many people o hand to assist them worked as a double edged blade: safety went up but their time arguably was reduced, the system was only as good as long as everyone present could remain. Most of those helping were the King's men and thus they would in one form or another be carrying out his work regardless, but to the same end there were other duties they needed to attend to. Were they closer to their own home perhaps Yusef would have brought some men with him to help as well, but traveling so far was out of the question. Taking a break for food fruit was handed out to everyone and the General sat upon a stump, turning over a fruit in his claws and laughing at his son's outburst. "I am only teasing, relax T'charrl! And from what we've been told it depends largely on the weather, otherwise the winds are usually constant. We should be safe to do this as long as we want to today, or as long as you're able."

----------

"Whatever, I don't care about your family. You sure as shit don't care about mine." Krom would always be a piece of crap who justified being such by following orders, but you only followed lousy orders like that if you were a crappy person to begin with. No decent person kidnapped children so they could be put through awful tests. So all the guy had in mind was some extra weight huh? Nothing actually difficult? Takeshi was going to show this jerk up and make it look like a breeze. "Fine, fine, no sparring until Shu feels better, I get it,' Takeshi said with a wave of his hand, smirking as he started to gather up weights for himself, "And it's not me that's going to bother him, I didn't drag him to my insane father now did I? If anyone here is making things hard for him its you." The bastard was right though, he had to shut the hell up if Shu was to have any hope of relaxing during their training. It was his fault Shu was the way he was and the last thing he wanted to do was prevent his brother from getting better. "You know... I'll give you this much: when we first met you were definitely stronger than we were, by a lot," Takeshi said as he put on a weighted vest, leaning over to fasten weights to his legs as well, "But we're going to be stronger than you before long, and then we'll be stronger than our shitty old man too. And when that happens his whole world is coming crashing down, you got me? And that means anyone who supports him is going down too, which means you. And don't you forget that. Now let's get this crap out of the way so we can get back to kicking your ass."

---------

Was he holding back? Vegeta was just trying to keep himself from being pummeled, throwing back any strikes like this would only result in them trading blows unnecessarily. Knocking aside another fist he frowned as Viral shouted to him more and continued throwing punch after punch, clearly agitated by his defensive approach. "Holding back? I wasn't, I was waiting for this." Pushing aside another punch Vegeta folded his hand and struck Viral in the chest, stepping forward with his back foot and hitting him again with an open palm, exhaling as he watched the Beastman stagger slightly. Quickly blocking another punch Vegeta moved to take a step back, catching his toe on the ground and stumbling back, leaving him open as he took a punch to the jaw. Nearly spinning around he caught himself and blinked the stars away, turning and catching another punch thrown. "You're not holding back either I see, either that or you're stronger than I remember," Vegeta commented, catching another punch and trying to push Viral back as they locked grips. Seeing it going nowhere he glanced down for a split second at his friend's feet before sweeping a leg out to try and knock him over, intending to grab Viral's arm and lift him over and throw him onto his back if it should work. "Don't underestimate me just because I've been out of action."

So much effort was being put into all of this, just to keep him safe. T’charrl was definitely wondering what he was supposed to do to repay everyone for all this help, he felt pretty bad taking up all these people’s time just so he wouldn’t screw up. “Oh…all those people, huh…? I uhh, don’t know what to say…” It certainly wasn’t anything that didn’t make him sound like he was whining, that was for sure. He didn’t want to sound like a little hatchling but he was definitely scared of what their opinions of him were going to be at the end of the day. He needed to try really hard and not waste these people’s time, he had a duty to fulfil to these people. Shaking his claws rapidly he let out an irritable groan, eventually slapping at his cheeks. “I need to get in the zone more! I hope it doesn’t rain today…” he spoke before sighing, lowering his claws, hunching his shoulders, “If it rains how will everyone get out of the chasm…? That would be awful. How do they last above ground with all the rain…?” He was just getting side-tracked now, but he was ready to go again whenever his father and Haku were. “I want to keep trying! I can’t let down the people! They must be bored waiting for me…”

--

Krom was having a great time poking fun at Takeshi, the ignorant idiot. He didn’t actually care about all the stuff that went on in the past or whatever was still bugging Takeshi, he was just doing his job so he had no issues himself. He was going to do his best to bug Takeshi and see if Shu would react, hopefully he won’t though. If Shu got all mad then he would have to deal with him himself while not trying to knock him out by slamming his head or something, he’d just make the kid worse. “If I recall correctly it was you who dragged him into space, wasn’t it? Besides, I was just doing my duty and keeping my people safe. It’s not my fault your father’s a psycho…” It’s not like Takeshi would understand anyway, he couldn’t quite grasp the concept of there being struggles on more sides than just whatever one he was on. He should know a thing or two about what went down on Kortal, he was there for a while, but then again he also seemed to forget that the Commander existed and could only talk about his brother all the time. Looking to Shu briefly who was set on sitting against the wall he slowly looked back to Takeshi, narrowing his eyes before folding his arms. “You’ve not fought me well enough to think you’re anywhere near my level. Blasting your friend into a building doesn’t mean you’re stronger than what you were before, just as reckless as ever”, he spoke, brushing his hand through his messy hair, “And what do you mean ‘out of the way’? You’re not going anywhere for a while or ‘kicking my ass’ for quite a bit! I must say though: I’m quite amused by you thinking I’ve not been training lately myself! I don’t think you’ll be catching up to me anytime soon!”

--

Viral had been waiting a long time to actually do some sparring, shame that Vegeta didn’t seem to be doing anything other than taking the punches and trying to not get hit. He wasn’t throwing any at all in retaliation, just waiting until he actually stopped punching. He was only growing annoyed, he couldn’t tell if Vegeta was wanting to do this or just wanted to let him feel better by being able to throw some punches without worrying about his life for once. With his anger only rising he questioned Vegeta’s motives, continuing to try and get something out of him before suddenly Vegeta decided now was the time to retaliate with his own attacks. While he did try to block the attacks he wasn’t fast enough, instead being struck twice and winded momentarily. Growling, Viral immediately tried to retaliate, throwing a series of punches with only one managing to strike Vegeta before his next was caught. Narrowing his gaze at Vegeta when he questioned his strength he was quick to try and shut him up; however, that ended up not going to plan either as he was taken off his feet, trying to catch himself but was grabbed before he was able to and immediately slammed on his back. Gasping on impact he momentarily lost his vision, blinking trying to regain it before he was left staring up at Vegeta. He was just waiting to do that, wasn’t he? Of course he wasn’t going to hold back, he was his father’s son after all. “…Is this the part where you kill me? I’m not worthy enough to be called a warrior, not when I’m this easily defeated…” he spoke lowly before suddenly spinning himself around as he yanked his arm away, aiming to trip Vegeta up or at least force him away before he pushed himself right off the floor with only his paw, “Or would you rather sell me to the highest bidder to get your money’s worth? That is all I was worth to you, wasn’t it??” Without giving Vegeta a chance to answer on a break he was right back in it again, throwing his fist down at Vegeta no matter where he was to try and pummel him into the ground.

"Everything has been taken care of Haku, don't you worry. We've planned for every possible situation and the people here are willing and wanting to help. You just focus on your exercises my son." There was far too much worry and not enough action from T'charrl, the boy needed more confidence. And confidence he would have once he began to do these exercises - and work with Nema on finding a 'peace of mind - of that Yusef was absolutely certain. They had anticipated that the beginning would be slow and yet no one was fretting too much over that: T'charrl would succeed given the time to. "Now then, I believe I feel another strong wind coming on! How about you show me that your last attempt wasn't just a fluke?" coercing his son the general smiled, gesturing towards the chasm once again, "A word of advice? Don't try to breath while the wind hits you, the force of it is likely going to knock you breathless. Its easiest to take a deep breath and hold it, helps to keep you from becoming winded... Literally." Haku was the first into the chasm and for that Yusef was glad they'd had the boy come along to help them. It should be of some consolation to have a friend there for his son and Haku's willingness to take part in the training could only make it easier.

----------

"If you're talking about Viral it's not like I wanted to do that, it's your guys' fault we even had to fight him to begin with," grumbled Takeshi, frowning as he strapped weights to his legs and his arms. Krom could do whatever he wanted to try and shift the blame but ultimately he'd been complicit in the King's twisted ways and was every bit as guilty as their father. And his reasoning was... What? Avoiding punishment? Okay so then the guy was just a lousy coward willing to get kids hurt to save his own skin, that sounded so much better. "It's not that I don't think you haven't been training, I know you're a soldier and all. It's just that I know I'm going to pass you anyways, me and Shu both are," Takeshi continued as he finished preparing himself, grinning tauntingly at Krom, "And you're going to be part of what makes us better than you. Then our shitty old man, you, that jerk Korian, none of you guys are gonna be able to order us around anymore, you know? And we'll go back to Earth and you all can fight over whatever, I really don't care anymore." These aliens, this war, whatever went on didn't matter as much as keeping Shu happy and safe. And Viral, and Yumi, and Vegeta and the rest of his friends. Like hell he was going to keep letting these people order them to worlds and fight and get hurt for their stupid causes. He'd get strong enough to end the whole mess and once that happened they could forget any of this crap even existed. "Let's go pops, what am I doing to start? And don't hold back either, I want to do this crap right."

----------

Kill him? Why in the world was anyone going to kill Viral? The point of a sparring session wasn't even to injure someone let alone take their life... Wasn't he being a bit extreme? Releasing Viral's arm to avoid being swept Vegeta backed off and put his hands up preemptively, waiting for his friend to make his next move. Hearing the words that came next made his heart sink, a visible show of unease on his face as he threw a sidelong glance towards Aito accusingly. "Viral that's not..." Damn his father, they'd talked about it hadn't they? Conversation wasn't an option with the Beastman bearing down on him and again he was on the defensive, blocking punches hectically while trying to find an opening for himself. "It wasn't that, Viral! It's not that you were worthless, or even that I wanted to sell you! I..." A hard right cut him off and after staggering Vegeta found himself on the floor, bouncing off of it as an overhead punch sent him over. Rolling to the side quickly he stretched out a hand and lifted himself up, flipping onto his feet before darting back in at Viral. "I had no choice! I couldn't help you, hell I could hardly help myself!" Vegeta shouted as he spun on a heel, trying to kick at Viral's side and send him flying, "It was meant to help you!"

T’charrl was practically shaking in anticipation, his excitement carrying on into his fear as he tried to be positive about this and himself. If he could figure out the best way to combat the extreme winds and remain forever stabilised against them he would be stronger in no time, hopefully. He did wonder what they would move onto next once he was able to withstand the winds, probably flying against it but then what if he surpassed that? He hoped he would get that far, he had to if he was to make his father proud. “I-I’m not worrying that much! I just don’t like the thought of bleeding all over the place because I messed up…” he sighed, shaking his head. It was just his preference: he wasn’t too into the whole ‘getting hurt to get stronger’ thing a lot of people seemed to go for. He always thought those kinds of people were a bit crazy, but whatever lifted them high. He wasn’t going to question it further, he needed to get this training really fast. I’ll try not to! I’ll also try not to faint…” he spoke, looking back to the chasm before heading towards it himself.

Haku was quick to get back in so that helped his confidence at least. Deciding to take a deep breath before he headed in, T’charrl readied himself and immediately got his feet into position before the wind started to blast him. It was just as startling as it was before, his body feeling like it was being squashed against the wind and his own determination to stay upright. How he was supposed to withstand this while flying he had no idea, his wings would just end up being ripped to shreds then that would be several days wasted. When the wind died down again he stumbled forward slightly, having to catch himself from falling completely on his face. He had only done this a few times and he was already feeling tired, it didn’t help that he was very light compared to Haku and his father. “…And this is the easy part, right…? I can’t help but feel like I should be better at this and not feeling so…tired already…”

--

“’Your guys’ fault’? Viral? Saying ‘your guys’ is like calling me a scientist. Do I look like a scientist to you? I had nothing to do with the Commander, even he knows that”, Krom shrugged, hardly giving it much of a second thought. Takeshi certainly enjoyed putting blame on others, he didn’t seem to be able to handle the blame, he was always quite happy to put it on someone else if he had to. No matter, it wasn’t anything he had to worry about, he was only the one in charge of getting the two Princes up to scratch in their fighting skills. He had no idea what to do with Shu was the only thing. The kid had a training day’s break because he was told he had to give the boy a break, but that wasn’t enough to give him any idea on what he should do. Sighing lightly he looked back over to Takeshi who was continuing with his dribble. “Do you even listen to yourself? Maybe you should learn how to talk some sense”, he spoke calmly, rolling his shoulders, “I don’t care about ordering people around, and how responsible of you…you and your childish dreams. Funny how you call Korian a jerk, though! Who knows if this room has voice in it!” He had a fair number of different dreams going on in his head, ones that all had ‘happily ever after’ feels to them and none that actually came with a plan. “I already said what you’re doing! You’re not doing anything fun if your brother can’t do anything! You should think about getting to running instead! And you’re not going to blow your top either while you’re doing it. I know you have a habit of doing that…”

--

Vegeta should know what he was talking about, he was around for all of it and it had been his plans. Viral had just had enough of this and was fair alright with going straight in again with these facts driving him. He had always been treated as something owned by the company and something Vegeta had accidentally revived when he wasn’t supposed to be revived. Vegeta may not remember the complete details from when he was awoken, but he remembered when Vegeta grew distant before deciding it was best to sell him off. Throwing his attacks in hastily he was almost successful in conquering Vegeta, but Vegeta was quick to get back up and drove his foot into his ribs, sending him tumbling away. When he managed to catch himself from rolling more he growled lowly, holding his ribs as he pushed his chest off the floor. “Help me?? Was it so hard to ask me what I wanted? You had to dictate me to the very end??” he shouted back, slowly getting back to his feet, “You knew what I was capable of! You didn’t think that just maybe those people would just pull me apart and use my genes however they pleased??” Quickly dashing back at Vegeta he threw his fists directly at Vegeta, trying to end with a kick right back. “The Saiyans did just that and if a bunch of monkeys could work out how to do that, you don’t think a bunch of naked apes would do the same?? You willingly risked my life because you grew bored of me!”

With the support of Haku and the gentle pushes on his part T'charrl was ready to go back into the winds. Yusef did not expect his son to master the training in a day and indeed even the lowest level of the exercises was proving trying. Perhaps it was a lot to ask of anyone in a single month - to be able to do something their people as a whole regularly avoided. But they were capable of the feat as many had done it before: Yusef was not the first to learn how, he'd learned from those before him. Were he clever enough to come up with this on his own... "You've made three attempts T'charrl, the first which nearly resulted in injury, the third which has shown progress already. Are you finished? No, not even close," the general spoke as he entered the chasm as well, casting his gaze into the darkness before them, "But you've already taken a large step forward, and starting is always the most difficult part. Unless you don't feel up to it we could try once or twice more, then we can stop for the day. It is hard training, I won't deny that." But nothing worthwhile came easily and T'charrl had a large mountain to overcome before he and Haku left again. "Try one last time, then we can stop for the afternoon. Besides you'll still need to meet with King Nema as well, perhaps its best you go before you end up in pain. Would make meditation difficult I imagine!"

"You're doing great T'charrl, it does seem r-really hard too," Haku agreed with a nod, "You just need to k-keep working at it! If I can m-make rank as a soldier then a-anything is possible!" Not that he'd had a choice about being a soldier but that was a technicality T'charrl didn't need to know. Besides their entire purpose coming to Kaesstra, visiting aside, was so that T'charrl could get some much overdue help with his powers. There was no way they were going to give up so easily and leave without making some progress, Haku refused to let his friend settle for failure. Grabbing T'charrl's claw and pulling his friend a few steps forward he gave a reassuring smile, standing this time at T'charrl's side. "When we go b-back you're going to surprise everyone with how w-well you did here! And they're going to see just how h-hard you worked. They'll practically be b-b-begging you t-to train them!" Nothing less than success, Haku would be in this chasm day in and day out if he needed to for T'charrl to succeed. Not that he'd ever say so openly but this was as much a trial for himself as it was for his friend. He still didn't belong in this group and he hadn't done anything to pull his weight, he needed this. If he could show he was useful in some small way then he wouldn't be treated like a small time fighter to just be thrown aside, he wasn't going to have a repeat of his time on Kortal.

----------

If Krom thought he was completely absolved of guilt than he was an idiot. Sure he didn't run the experiments on Shu or Viral, and he hadn't been the one to give the orders either, but that didn't matter. He'd been complicit in it all and was the reason Viral was ever put in that situation. Takeshi knew it was his fault too that Shu was ever harmed - he'd known all along it was his fault for chasing Viral - he didn't need a bastard like Krom reminding him of that. The Elite was fast wearing his already minute patience thin and so Takeshi started the training, opting to put his anger and frustration into something constructive for a change. There'd be chances later to make Krom pay, and his father, and Korian and anyone else he deemed responsible. But right now he had to get his own crap in shape and show he actually cared about Shu; throwing the match at the tournament had seemed like a redeeming moment and yet it was only the beginning to earning Shu's trust back. Sneering at Krom one last time the older boy toed the floor with his boot before starting to jog along the perimeter, quickly at first until the full weight of his gear pressed on him. Krom hadn't been joking when he said this was going to be more difficult! Gritting his teeth he strained slightly to keep his legs up and his back straight, glaring at the aforementioned Saiyan out of the corner of his eye as he ran. He was expecting him to freak out and upset Shu wasn't he? To throw a fit and instigate a fight that would only make things worse? Well screw him and screw his shitty expectations, he was going to make damn sure Shu got better - and that all started with him getting his own act together.

----------

Of course he'd been trying to help Viral! Vegeta couldn't have managed the international corporation that was Capsule Corp and juggle Viral's handling, he'd barely been able to handle the former! Some of the buyers had been less than ideal but somewhere else - anywhere else, would have been better than where Viral was. At least... That was the idea, right? The truth of the matter was Vegeta had done very little vetting for the potential buyers and had inadvertently almost agreed to a deal with the RRA: one of the groups Viral had been created for to fight against. Why hadn't he thought to ask Viral? Why had he decided to try and make the choice all on his own?



But he'd cared! He'd cared enough to try and Viral another home, a place where Viral could actually live a life instead of being confined constantly. During the inner monologue with himself Viral had gone back on the offensive and, bogged down with his thoughts, Vegeta had been slow to react. Narrowly blocking the first punch thrown he gasped as another rocked his gut and lifted him slightly off of his feet, taking a kick to the same spot that sent him hurtling backwards. Flipping and righting himself he managed to get his feet on the ground and his heels dug in to stop his slid, mere inches from the wall when he came to a halt.



Like hell! They were effectively brothers, he could never do something so callous! And yet he had, hadn't he? Because of his own ineptitude and inability to ask for help Viral had nearly paid dearly. Because of his indifference the man before him was bitter, distrusting and furious with the world. All because of him. Vegeta raised his fists again and took a low, shaky breath as he sprinted back towards Viral, his movements hardly as planned as his mind was abuzz with conflicting thoughts. His moves were slower, woefully so, as he cocked back an arm and threw a jab at the Beastman. Everything that had transpired up until now - all of the injuries, the kidnappings, the resentment, it was all because of him. As if Viral hadn't felt terrible enough for what he'd done to Aito it had been pushed further by the negligence on his behalf. It was no small wonder Yumi was frustrated with him all the time. Missing his punch he took another blow to the jaw that split his lip, spitting blood aside as he threw another at Viral.

"And yet you're still here, despite everything..." Despite all of his efforts, inadvertently or otherwise, to tear down Viral he was still here. Some might argue the Beastman was a shell of his former self and yet he still pressed on without any apologies or condolences, and even in his efforts to help Vegeta had never once addressed what the real problem was: himself. What an idiot he'd been.