[IC] Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

[Mogtaki]

Viral didn’t like how he was being used as for testing after so long, even if it wasn’t involving directly poking and prodding him to get results. All these reports and observations always made him feel less like a living being and more like some lab experiment that would never find freedom. He wondered if the time came where he got better he would be left alone to his own devices without all of these secretive observations being held behind his back, but then again they were probably afraid that he would be dangerous and cause all sorts of havoc of left to run around with nobody to watch over him. “Hmph, well however you did it…knock it off. I don’t like being seen as a test subject for your little social experiments…” He was certainly annoyed at him but he wasn’t going to get all angsty about it. Maybe once he was able to get through his crisis he’d be more tolerant to knowing more about himself through these tests, but right now all it made him feel like he was still on a hospital bed. When Aito decided it was best to move away now he grumbled, rubbing his chest solemnly before letting out a sigh. “Fine…fine. If it’ll make you shut up, I’m all for it…”

Shu didn’t feel embarrassed to cuddle so he saw no reason to stop, giving Takeshi a squeeze and a squeak in response. He didn’t like being unhappy either and forcing himself into being happy seemed to be the best way to go about finding happiness. So long as everyone else was feeling happy because he appeared happy then he was going to be happy, or at least that was his logic. “Really? Shu likes being friend too! Friends were hard to have in the jungle…” He did miss the jungle, it was his home for most of his life and he was used to the violent method of survival, even if he wasn’t naturally violent himself. Feeling about ready to see T’charrl he didn’t really enjoy the whole having to go in an elevator to get to his room, clasping onto Takeshi extra-tight as if there was a chance of him falling. Closing his eyes as it moved he held his breath until he could finally leave, sighing heavily. “Where Friend now…? Where? Still same room? When he get out?”

Kiton didn’t care about the title of strongest out of the two, he didn’t like things that were different from what he was used to. This kind of stuff was just annoying to him, but he wasn’t going to stop just because he was a little bit annoyed. He would stick with it and keep going, even if she was going to annoy him with these little acts. Nevermind, he would still fight if it was going to keep her happy and hopefully put out a good note for him. “It’s dodging with style is what it is. I don’t care, anyway!” Trying to not let it bother him he did kick out, but when she jumped away again he growled in annoyance before having her kick him in the back. Stumbling a little bit, he went to turn around quickly but found himself in pain very quickly, his ribs hurting with an incredibly sharp pain. Maybe he shouldn’t try to move so suddenly, he might injure himself again. With great annoyance over himself he moved back into attack Sasha, kicking out several times while staying in the air before spinning around to try and smack her away with his tail.

[GambolMuse]

Aito raised his hands defensively when Viral became upset, figuring he'd react in such a way. It was a fair reaction, anyone would be upset if they knew they were in the middle of being tested. Granted it wasn't in the traditional sense, they were more seeing what methods worked best for the Beastman, yet one could argue that testing was testing, regardless. "You're right, I should have been absolutely transparent about that from the start, I apologize. I won't try anything like that without your explicit consent." Chances were however this was the route they were meant to take with this, so they'd not be experimenting with methods any longer. Their decided upon path wasn't the easiest, but it was by far the most simplistic one with a high guarantee of results. Hoping to get Viral to rest now, the doctor got to his feet and moved a few meters away, taking a seat back on the grass. "I'll be so silent you won't even know I'm here," Aito responded, smiling as he playfully zipped his lips. Just as well he remained silent, he could observe Viral and, with luck, the Beastman would fall asleep. He couldn't expect that to happen if he was actively staring Viral down though, he'd need a grace period for that. Folding his legs then, Aito inhaled deeply before laying his hands in his lap, exhaling and trying to get into a state for meditation, hoping to pass the time by doing so.

Friends were kind of hard to have everywhere, was what Takeshi wanted to say. Granted he'd probably been the entire reason he'd never had friends, as who in their right mind would befriend him back then? Only Shu would even try, anyone else ignored him or turned tail and left when he showed up. Really he owed quite a lot to the little guy, and he'd never really done much to show any gratitude. How could he? Be a better brother? Spend more time with him? They were already always together, so maybe he had to do more. He could always ask Vegeta for advice, seeing as they were coming up on the guy's room here pretty quickly. "He'll get out when he feels better buddy, I don't know how long that is going to take," Takeshi answered, heading down the hall to T'charrl's room, "He's probably feeling better already though, we'll just have to find out!" And here it was, their friend's room. One could barely hear the sound of Vegeta's voice on the other side of the door, apparently they were in mid lesson. Not a problem for Takeshi, he was sure they'd be fine with him and Shu coming to sit in on the lecture. Grabbing the door he opened it up without so much as a knock, grinning as he stepped into the room. "Yo! What's going on guys!" he said cheerfully, only to wince as a hand shot to his forehead a second later. Opening one eye he saw Vegeta giving him a plain-faced stare, but his eyes said "Knock you idiot", or something like that, an evidently he'd thrown an eraser at Takeshi. Frowning he rubbed at the spot on his head, kicking the eraser back over to their friend before smiling at T'charrl. "Hey! Glad to see you're awake!"

Dodging with style, was it? That was new, Sasha had never heard it referred to as such before now. She'd been called a coward by some for avoiding strikes, and others have claimed she was more fit to be a dancer or something than a fighter. Funny, everyone who'd ever insulted her style of fighting had lost to her, that said something about it. Granted she had never fought someone of Kiton's caliber before, and they weren't fighting for the type of victory one normally would in battle, but she was somewhat amused to find it still being degraded almost. She had managed to land a kick on Kiton, yet seeing him in evident pain made her rethink this training. Before she could voice any doubts, however, he was back on the offensive, coming in with a flurry of kicks. Doing her best to dodge them she leaned back to evade the first, ducking low on the second and managing to get a hand on the third, pushing the leg aside just enough to avoid being struck. The fourth however connected with her shoulder and knocked her back a few steps, and then coupled with taking a hit from the tail she was sent flying off, managing to flip and land on all fours after the fact. He hit hard, very hard, but now she was just excited to continue. She knew what to expect and had all the more reason to dodge it. Coming right back in after being batted away, Sasha jumped slightly this time to start, turning around and lifting her leg well above her head, trying to bring it down at an angle against Kiton.

[Mogtaki]

Viral knew even after complaining he’d probably receive a whole bunch of evidence that they’re still putting him through tests, knowing nothing will change because he simply didn’t want it happening. While sometimes it was lifesaving, he still felt like he needed a carer and couldn’t be his own person. Aito and Vegeta were always set on using him in their little tests and if they decided it was something that had to happen they would probably be on it without his knowledge. Grumbling when Aito practically apologised for not telling him rather than for conducting the tests he let out a huff, pulling at the grass. “Of course…hmph, just like you to want to find ways around doing that again. Just because you created me doesn’t mean you can use me however you please”. Seeing how Aito was about ready to see if he’d attempt sleeping he grumbled as he shifted himself, feeling pretty terrible now that he was not distracted by Aito. He knew he would also get annoyed if he was being stared down by Aito, but he did hope he wouldn’t need to notice that. Placing his paw over his face he tried to relax himself, finding it a lot easier with the pain being pretty dead now. He was still trying hard to clear his mind, but probably the only good thing was he’d probably not get up after this. He felt too physically weak to move, most likely after all the work he put himself through.

Shu was pretty worried but he was always worried whenever his friends were hurt, especially when he was the reason they were hurting in the first place. It was all because of him that T’charrl was still in the hospital, but he tried to not let it bug him too much and hopefully seeing T’charrl not being all sleepy and weak would make him feel better. If Vegeta was there teaching him then it meant he was up and about and not struggling to keep awake. Sometimes he wondered how he felt about being able to take a hit like that and still be alive, seeing how he was just like his kind not long ago and not as durable and strong. Nodding at Takeshi he stared at the door once they finally arrived, hearing Vegeta from within he gasped when Takeshi suddenly opened the door, not really expecting him to open it without at least knocking. Peering over his shoulder he gasped when some projectile came flying their way only to hit Takeshi in the face instead.

T’charrl got a bit of a fright when Takeshi suddenly popped in, having been trying hard to learn and not really paying much attention to anything else other than Vegeta. He was still in his bed but he was sitting up with his bed shifted into a position that was comfortable for him. He was still rather weak and his body hadn’t quite recovered enough for him to walk so staying here seemed to be what he needed for now. Without his energy overloading he wouldn’t had been in a better condition than he was now. Staring at Takeshi as he was assaulted by an eraser he glanced to Vegeta before back to Takeshi, giving him a weak smile. “Uhhh yeah, I-I’m awake”, he spoke before looking down at his work, “I was just, uhh…learning new things. It sure got quiet here when everyone left”.

Kiton was well aware that it was just a training session, but it didn’t stop him from getting frustrated over the dodging into attacks. He didn’t want to make his wounds worse but he still didn’t want to let her get away with such obvious dodges that would only have him struggling to move because he kept having to twist around to get to her. Throwing off his own kicks he ended it with his tail, managing to strike her pretty hard and send her flying. Frowning for a second, he couldn’t help but feel a slight moment of dread go through him, wondering if he might get reported for his violent behaviour; however, when she suddenly bolted out again all happily he got ready once again. Watching where she was coming from he was slightly startled that she decided to lift her leg up so high, staring at it before he ended up catching it in his hands while nearly falling over. If turning around suddenly didn’t hurt his insides then that certainly did, but trying to keep a straight face he tried to toss her to the side, his tail whipping around to try and smack her down to the ground again.

[GambolMuse]

Aito's face hardened for the briefest of moments at Viral's accusation, not at all appreciating it. Then, remember it was most likely not sincere he softened, letting out a sigh as he rubbed at his head. "I understand that, and I won't be conducting unwarranted tests anymore, I already said I wouldn't," the doctor responded, "If anything more needs to be done, you'll be notified beforehand and we'll need your permission to begin. I won't say that we won't have to run any more tests before this is done, because it may be a lie, so just understand that. Anything we do conduct is purely for your benefit." Leaving Viral to try and rest, Aito opted to do the same for himself, albeit in a different way. There was a plethora of questions currently demanding his attention, and he needed to find a way to address them relatively quickly. Viral's condition aside, he'd been asked to look into Shu, look into T'charrl, investigate what had been done to Yumi and even monitor Kiton's health as he recovered. Four patients, not overly intimidating numerically, but their conditions presented an array of problems for him. Mental, physical, emotional, cognitive, these were all issues for them in varying degrees, he had a lot of work for himself. Sitting down in a relaxed position, Aito closed his eyes and began an attempt to meditate, hoping to clear his mind and think clearly; doing this ought to provide Viral with privacy as well, despite only being a few meters away.

Takeshi had not expected to be the target of eraser-assault, and was quite surprised when he was struck. Wincing despite there being no pain he blinked just twice before looking at Vegeta defensively, rubbing a bit of smudge off of his forehead. That so wasn't necessary! But the guy was already going back to writing on the board, and he'd probably just ignore any attempts at talking, so on to T'charrl then. "Heh... Yeah, sorry about that. I guess everyone's trying to stay busy, even if they're in the hospital," the Saiyan remarked, coming over to the bedside and looking for a place to set Shu, "Like you are, studying and whatnot, you know? No one likes being made to sit around and do nothing." Hell, T'charrl would probably be out with them if he wasn't stuck here, poor guy. Finding a bit of space on the edge of the bed, Takeshi turned and eased Shu down to sit on it, smiling as he ruffled his brother's hair before stretching his bandaged shoulder carefully. "Oh, right! Uh we figured Shu was going to join your lesson, he wants to learn some stuff too. So if that's cool with you..."

"Whether it's 'cool' with me or not is irrelevant, you brought him here and so he'll learn," Vegeta responded without letting Takeshi finish, "It hardly matters to me if I have one student or ten, doesn't complicate my job any." It wasn't as though they were covering astrophysics or anything of the sort, this was very simple material that even Takeshi might be capable of teaching. In particular they were learning how to write at the moment, relatively simplistic sentences at that. With Shu now joining the lessons, he took a brief moment to grab another pad of paper and a pencil, bringing them over and handing them to the younger boy. T'charrl had already been instructed how to use them, but chances were Shu was a little clueless right now. "That thing in your hand is a pencil, and you use it to write," Vegeta explained, pulling one out of his pocket to show, "You generally hold one like this, but for your case and since you're learning, you can try like this," he added, holding the pencil enclosed in his palm. It was how a little child would use one, but for all intents and purposes Shu was basically that right now, so it would do. Going back to the board he pointed to the sentence there, and it read 'The cat is black'. "I just want you to try and copy this down you two, that's all. Shu? Have you been taught your alphabet yet? That means your letters."

Even when he was injured Kiton could strike fairly hard, no wonder his people used to be so feared. The power gap between them when he was healthy was likely massive, she'd never have a chance at really beating him then. But this wasn't a real fight again, it was more a show of technique than anything. Being knocked away hadn't deterred her any, and instead Sasha came right back in for a counter attack, bringing her leg up almost completely vertically in a jump before throwing it down, unsurprisingly being blocked by Kiton. Getting grabbed then she was thrown around by her leg, his tail coming around to strike her down again too. Reaching out she managed to not only grab his tail, but hold onto it and prevent herself from being tossed. Using the tail as leverage even, Sasha pulled herself back in and tried to knock Kiton to the ground, using her small frame as almost a battering ram to do so.

[Mogtaki]

Viral would be quite happy if he didn’t end up being a test subject this time when he got better, even if he’d need help learning how to use his forms responsibly. Every other time he used them when he was in trouble not to mention he didn’t even know what his last form was, nevermind practicing on his feline form. His strongest form was probably still going to be off limits until they knew he wasn’t going to be mentally unstable in it Having a lack of freedom definitely made him feel rather rotten, but then again he had been feeling rotten for a very long time. His body was pretty broken and all he could do was complain about it, forgetting he was supposed to be relaxing. It was just hard to relax and clear his mind. How did people do this, anyway? It felt impossible, even when he was extremely tired and had a terrible tremble in his waking hours. Maybe it was Aito sitting not too far away that made him nervous, like he was sure he was going to do something even though he wasn’t looking at him. Just how was he supposed to relax again, he couldn’t really remember what Aito said apart from the breathing thing. He definitely was tired, he recognised that much, but it had been so long that it was a struggle to imagine it happening.

Shu hoped T’charrl was alright with them crashing his little lesson like this, but by the looks of his expression and body language he was happy to see them. He recognised those more than he recognised use of language, but that didn’t seem to work very well in the world he was living in with everyone being vocally expressive. While he had been learning the language through listening to everyone it was about time he learned how to write too and was pretty happy to learn with his friend. Getting all excited he shifted on the bed once he was placed down, looking to Takeshi before to Vegeta, curious to what was meant by that. He guessed it meant he was welcome to learn with his friend. Staring at Vegeta, he looked down when he was handed a few things, staring at them curiously before looking to what T’charrl had. Seemed he had the same thing so that was good, only problem he was having now was holding the stick correctly. Staring at it, he looked up to Vegeta as he explained what it was and how to hold it, his eyes slowly moving down to his own hand as he grasped it the same way. Staring at it curiously, he tilted his head before looking at the words on the board. “Ooh, my letters? I…think I did…but was so long ago! Maybe I remember…but…I copy that…” He didn’t know what it said but he was still going to copy it down. Slowly tilting his head he scratched at the paper with the pencil, slowly and carefully trying to copy whatever it said on the board.

Kiton was trying to prevent injury but he did feel it was going to happen eventually and he would need to stop. He really shouldn’t be training so much when he could barely move his body in other directions. He was struggling to move around already with how he was just now, but it was fine for what they were doing even if her movements were making him feel a little annoyed and proving to deliver sharp but quickly disappearing pain. Trying to counter her kick he ended with throwing his tail around again but sure enough Sasha made use of that movement and decided to counter it herself, ramming into his small body. Falling over momentarily he moved to get up, grunting as he held his ribs before turning around to face her. “H-Hey c’mon…my limbs are fine but my insides are pulverised, remember…?” he spoke up before sighing, "I know how durable my kind are, but it's still a lot of pain to go through..."

[GambolMuse]

Now that conversation between the two had finally subsided, a pleasant silence set over the forest. With exception of the occasional ruffling of leaves from the wind there wasn't a single sound to disturb them, and that was precisely what Aito had been hoping for. Nothing but the sounds of their own breathing, something he was betting on Viral to be able to use as a point to focus on. In, and out, that was all that the Beastman needed to do. Where his son might normally complain or bemoan this method, there was no such sound, giving him hope that it was working. Without actually glancing over however there was no way of knowing, and the doctor didn't want to disturb Viral and check. Instead, Aito focused on himself, pouring over every little detail that had occurred since his and June's revival. Like the world's most complex jigsaw puzzle he could see all of the pieces, it was only a matter of figuring out how they went together. The recovery of some of the children, the war, the situation back on Earth, there was a lot he had to solve, and potentially not a lot of time to do it. A small smirk crept to his lips at that, it was just like when he was alive before; deadlines were always such a pain and came up far too quickly, yet he'd always managed to meet them. This time would be no different, he'd be certain of that.

"If you don't remember then that's fine, we can go over them after this. For now I want to just check if you've the motor skills to even write." Shu was certainly physically capable of holding the pencil, whether he could use something that required precision was another matter entirely. If the kid couldn't even manage to use the writing utensil then trying to teach him how to write would be a moot effort. Watching as Shu and T'charrl went about trying it out, he was somewhat relieved to find they were both capable of copying what he'd written; so they could recognize it, even if only as shapes, and mimic what he had done. That was good, now it was a question as to whether they understood any of the words or not. T'charrl likely had no grasp of what a "cat" was, but Shu may have some idea. "Excellent, your ability to write at a second grade level will prove to be our saving grace," Vegeta joked, hardly trying to contain the sarcasm in his tone. Hearing his mother clear her throat loudly he flushed just slightly, clearing his own throat before nodding. "Well done, both of you. T'charrl? Since we don't know if Shu is familiar with the alphabet, I'm going to go over it quickly for his sake. You don't mind, do you?"

Sasha knew she wasn't physically that imposing, and she also knew she wasn't the fastest of fighters. That was fine though, not everyone had to have those to be a capable fighter. What she did excel in, something most people might not consider a skill, was dodging. To be more exact, she was rather adept at predicting movements based on how the body was positioned; she studied an opponent meticulously during a fight, and by seeing how they moved she could react, usually quite well, and avoid being struck. It was difficult the faster an opponent was, but an injured Kiton was proving to be right within her range. Being hit by his tail didn't stop her from coming back, and after using his own limb against him she managed to even knock him to the ground with a shoulder charge. Seeing him get up and grab at his ribs, Sasha immediately was reminded that Kiton was injured, and dropped right out of her fighting stance. Very embarrassed by getting carried away, she placed her hands on her thighs and bowed to the Frost Demon in a show of apology, her face burning albeit hidden by her hanging hair. "Sorry! I got carried away, my mistake!" she responded, composing herself just enough to look at him, managing a small smile, "For someone injured though you're still very good. I figured you'd be able to hit me easily, and I'm surprised I could get even the two hits in that I did. If you were healthy then I'm positive this would have been one sided for you." No amount of fancy dodging on her part would help if she'd been struck, and while it was unfortunate there was such a gap she wasn't resentful. That was simply how it was, she could work to try and remedy that or not, but she'd not ruminate over it.

[Mogtaki]

Viral was lead to believe that he would be relaxed in this forest, but as it stood he felt he was just waiting for the inevitable animal to come around and try to tear him inside out. He didn’t have his weapon, he wasn’t allowed to while he was in this state, so feeling vulnerable was going to be an active paranoia he was going to carry around. It was hard getting used to the silence, even his breathing and heart was bothering him. He was still in a small amount of pain but that wasn’t what was bothering him. As tired as he was he was finding it hard to find the same peace Aito and everyone else probably felt when sleep was needed. Feeling the only solution was to try and nullify his heartbeat’s noise he rolled over onto his front, resting his head on his arms as he stared out into the forest. He still couldn’t help but think about how tired he was, how hard a time he was actually going to sleep. The whole time he had been awake for he had been keeping rather busy and yet still couldn’t manage like a normal person. He just needed to close his eyes and relax, but even that was ridiculously hard. It was such a horrible feeling knowing he was the only one with this problem, knowing how everyone else who was capable of sleeping could do it so freely.

Shu was definitely trying hard to live up to the determination everybody believed he had, which is fairly true considering he really wanted to learn. He didn’t know if he was going to manage, but everybody believed in him and T’charrl was doing much better with his speaking so surely he could do great with learning how to read and write. Scratching down what he saw on the board he hoped he was doing it correctly, taking his time to try and do the best he could do. Looking up when Vegeta spoke he tilted his head curiously, wondering what he meant before looking down at his work. “Is that…good?” Not entirely sure if he was doing it correctly now he stopped, staring at it before looking to T’charrl.

T’charrl wasn’t really sure what statement he was trying to write down but he did hope to learn more about it, however removing that thought from him was a question from Vegeta who questioned him about the alphabet. Looking to Shu quickly he turned back with a smile, nodding quickly. “That’s alright. I need to be reminded sometimes too”, he spoke, looking down to his own paper as he continued to get the sentence down. He was personally pretty happy to have some extra company around, even if he didn’t know if Vegeta was happy with it. His friend needed to learn too and this was probably the best time to do it.

Kiton didn’t want to be harsh on Sasha for hitting him like that but the agreement was to train, not to get violent while training. Ramming someone was just a little too violent for his liking compared to an attack with his tail. Trying to recover from the hit he slowly rubbed his sides before looking back to Sasha who was readily apologising for what she did. Not completely understanding what she was doing he sighed lightly, trying to straighten himself up but kept a hand on his side. “Well, the point on training is to try and get better, so immediately beating you up isn’t going to help me at all. I hope I’m not cheating you out of anything by doing that, though”, he spoke calmly, removing his hand, “If you were someone I wanted to prove something to then maybe I would start going crazy on you, but only guy so far who wanted to do that since my returning was one of those guys from the group. That guy didn’t seem to really care that I was already injured so I tried to keep up with him, only problem is it put me out for a whole day. The zombie-doctor man wasn’t happy at all…”

[GambolMuse]

Was Viral asleep yet? The silence had only gone on for a mere few moments, and tired as the Beastman might be... Could he fall asleep? Aito opened one eye and peered over at the Beastman, somewhat disappointed to see him lying on his front, staring out into the forest. Well he might not be asleep, but was he at the very least at peace? From here it was difficult to read his expression, but the way in which Viral scrunched his shoulders up told him that wasn't the case. Letting out a silent sigh, the doctor rubbed at his face before getting up and giving a small yawn. "You won't attack me out here, and nothing will attack you," Aito said, venturing that Viral was tense for one of those two reasons, "I'm not going to sleep while you rest, I'll be watching your back the entire time. Should you change I can subdue you too, so there's no threat from that. Relax, you're in good hands here." Nothing at all was of threat out here, the locals had assured them as much. Sure, there were predators within the forests, but none were out in this area typically, and even those that were tended to be of the smaller variety. Unless Viral was afraid of something equivocal to a house cat then he'd be fine. Figuring he'd give the Beastman a little extra insurance, Aito rose up into the air and eased his way to a tree nearby, setting down on one branch carefully. "I'll be right up here, out of your reach the whole time," he said, smiling as he waved, "And I'll watch for anything in the area, you're completely safe, as am I. So please, relax."

Clearly sarcasm wasn't something Shu was accustomed to, otherwise he'd have realized that remark was totally made in jest. Resisting the urge to further taunt them, and mostly due to his mother's intervention, he changed his tone and praised their efforts, meaning them sincerely enough. Were they exactly literate? Not by a long shot, but at least they were beginning to grasp the basics, that was good. "Very well, we'll go over the alphabet then for Shu's sake, then we can continue with our lesson," Vegeta decided, flipping the board he'd been using over to a clean side, but not beginning to write yet. Walking over to the bed he peered between the two sheets T'charrl and Shu were using, curious to see how their handwriting was. Either were hardly works of art, and they certainly showed their inexperience, but it was legible. "You're doing well, but you have a ways to go, both of you. Everyone starts at the basics, don't feel disheartened for that." Returning then to the board, Vegeta went about writing down the letters one by one, both uppercase and lowercase. "I'm just writing it all out for you to see them Shu, and I'll say what each one is as we go along," he explained, quickly going through right to the end. Placing down the marker he then stood to the side of the board, pointing to the first letter. "This is 'A'. There are uppercase and lowercase versions of every letter, as you can see here. It makes the 'ay', 'ah' and 'aah' sounds. Look at what you've written and tell me if you recognize any."

Sasha felt a bit daft for attacking Kiton, having gotten excited and forgotten he was injured for a moment. Thankfully she didn't seem to do any real harm, though it was still a call to stop the fighting. After making it abundantly clear she was apologetic, she straightened herself out and gave Kiton his fair praise, rather impressed with how he held up in his current state. "Don't be ridiculous, I appreciate you even agreeing to train with me in the first place. Most of my comrades aren't that powerful, and the ones who are, like Korian or Sayomi, are far too busy working to train with us. So it's nice to get an able partner for a change," she replied, smiling as she rubbed at her bruised side. That tail strike sure had been quick and powerful, and to think he was injured too. "What guy? Who did you train with before now?" Sasha asked in confusion, not at all aware that Kiton had done this before. "And zombie-doctor...? You mean that Saiyan? Aito, I think..." she mused, "He seems like a good man, if strange. He's been helping everyone since he showed up hasn't he? I'm just glad he didn't turn out to be against our cause."

[Mogtaki]

Viral felt he probably just had to believe he could fall asleep, his hope resting on his nerves loosening up so he might be able to get better eventually. He was annoyed at himself completely and what was worse was he was the reason for all of this fuss he was putting everyone through. Aito could’ve easily been off working on something that might be able to benefit other people’s lives and yet here he was watching over a Beastman who had a body that refused to rest. Feeling angered by the slightest annoyance of sleeplessness he gasped when Aito suddenly spoke up, looking back at him before immediately turning around again with a grunt. “I know these things…and yet…I just can’t…” This was very frustrating, but he had to pull through somehow if he was going to get better. Lowering his head briefly he looked up again when Aito decided to go into a tree, staring at him for a moment before he slowly rolled onto his side again. “Maybe that’s the problem; cats don’t sleep on the ground”. Maybe that was just his problem, he wasn’t exactly able to tell if he was going to get surprise attacked and Aito wasn’t in a position to prevent it before. He had to stop being so stupid, he really needed to get a grip. Staring out into the forest he sighed, slowly moving his paw over his face to force in the illusion of darkness.

Shu was happy T’charrl was alright with letting him practice his alphabet too, hoping he wasn’t going to get angry because things weren’t moving fast enough. He didn’t know them very well and was only really familiar with the art of speaking through sound and not through thinking of the different letters and putting them all together. He did wonder if Vegeta was possibly annoyed that he had to teach him too by the way he sounded, but it was hard to tell with that guy. Looking to the board he watched as Vegeta wrote down all sorts of letters, even ones he hadn’t seen before until now. It was so strange, seeing it all in written form. Staring at Vegeta as he spoke he slowly tilted his head, looking as if he was gradually understanding before he squeaked, looking down at his work as he searched for this mysterious ‘A’. Scanning it twice, Shu eventually let out a squeak and looked back to Vegeta, pointing at his writing. “I found! I did it!” he squeaked happily, pointing at ‘cat’ and ‘black’, “I reading! I did it!”

Maybe it was best if they called it quits there for now, feeling like he may collapse if he tried to go in again. He wasn’t tired, but the pain from his injuries was a slight cause for concern. Kiton didn’t want to make her feel bad, he would probably get a bad report if he upset someone. Frowning at first, he soon gave a little smile before looking down again. “Ehh, I’m kind of cheating in the power department. We’re born with a lot of power and durability because of where we come from”. Looking back up when Sasha seemed confused he stared at her curiously, lightly shrugging. “Hmm, some guy who had his brother following him around. Typical Saiyan…or at least I think typical. I mean, I don’t see many Saiyans, but he looks like a few of them”, he spoke, trying to think when was the last time he had seen a Saiyan when he was free, “Hmm yeah, Aito or whatever has been giving me medicine to help rebuild my muscles and what not. They didn’t want me to heal up too fast in case I decided to steal their ship or something”.

[GambolMuse]

"Don't get frustrated over it Viral, it's okay to feel frustrated, but don't let it consume you," Aito spoke, glancing down at Viral from his new perch, "Nothing that you're feeling now is to be ashamed of either, it's all natural given what's occurred. It's like I said before, take note of everything, and then bring yourself back down to your breathing. Accept the moment for what it is, rather than damning every second of it." It was easier said than done in Viral's position; people who were stressed or depressed might not be able to appreciate the good even when it was staring them in the face. All of their energy and attention was focused on the negatives, the 'what-ifs' and 'maybes' of what could go wrong. "Just look at where we are... We're on a friendly world, in the middle of a beautiful forest away from other people and hassles. There are no demands on either of us right now, aside from relax. Look at things through that lens, and maybe you can settle down. Close your eyes, listen to the sounds around you, not the voice in your head. Maybe then you can find some peace." The sound of the wind, of the occasional animal calling out or some kind of bird singing, there were plenty of ambient noises if you just listened. Closing his own eyes again, the doctor leaned back against the trunk of the branch, smiling as he stretched out one leg and folded his arms across his chest, "Just take it all in... The outside world, let it calm the tumult within."

This lesson would be terribly remedial for T'charrl, and more likely than not even Takeshi, but Shu needed this. They could not hope to educate him any further if he had no solid foundation, it would be moot; luckily for the kid, lessons were already in place and could be adjusted to fit him accordingly. Starting very simply he asked Shu to find the letter 'A', and to no one's surprise he was able to pick them out. "Well done, now let's take it one step further. Can you recognize them on the board?" Vegeta asked, tapping his knuckles against the whiteboard to draw Shu's attention, "I want you to come up and point out every letter you've written down. Then, after that, I want you to try your best at sounding the word out. Since you have some grasp of speech, I'd imagine you can figure out what the letters sound like." Maybe, it all depended on how phonetically aware he was, and whether he could sound out the words enough to make a guess. Looking over to T'charrl for a moment he smiled slightly, nodding his head towards Shu. "I want you to try and help him if he struggles, okay? You'll know this easily, see if you can help him figure it out." This would be a good exercise for both of them this way, to test Shu's recognition and T'charrl's retention. Between the two of them, Vegeta was tentatively hopeful Shu would figure it out.

"Okay, so you were born with it, but you have to maintain it too. If you don't train or keep active then your body will weaken, everyone knows that," Sasha stated matter-of-factly, "But obviousness aside, I really am impressed. I'm also glad you're not an enemy, fighting you might be a real nightmare for us." Someone in their ranks was bound to be able to defeat Kiton in a fight, or one of the Princes and their group, yet she was glad that wasn't likely going to come to pass. They had accepted people of shady origin before and they'd turned out fine, she could see no reason to scrutinize Kiton then; his being a Frost Demon had no bearing either, and anyone who tried rejecting him, like Ricken, was frankly a bigot. Hearing the description of his previous opponent, Sasha groaned and smacked her own forehead, immediately placing a name to that. "Takeshi... I'll apologize on his behalf, he's.... What's a nice way to put this... Pig-headed? Don't take it personally, he'd fight his own shadow if he could," she joked, smiling slightly, "Can't blame them for being cautious, they didn't know you. I'm sure now though they've begun trusting you. They are good people, I can personally vouch for that much. Sure, maybe they're rough around the edges, but get to know them and they're not so bad."

[Mogtaki]

Viral made a glance up to Aito before looking away again, staring at the trees for a moment before sighing and moving his paw down. If it was only that easy, if only he was able to remove that frustration and make everything better. He wanted to forget it, but it was proving to be terribly hard. He wanted to appreciate the fact he had the time to be out here resting and how he was allowed to finally find peace from this awful existence. Staring out at the forest as Aito spoke he found it very hard to appreciate the fact he was having this opportunity, how he was able to possibly sleep outside while the whole world went about their day probably filled with stress and other worries. He should be thankful for it, not for all the voices he was forced to listen to throughout his waking hours. Growling lowly he ended it with a sigh, closing his eyes after taking a deep breath. There was the trees and the grass he was lying on, the smell of the forest and the sound of the wind and wildlife. If he was going to die of exhaustion then maybe this would be a pleasant last memory, even if he wasn’t supposed to believe he was going to die. It seemed his mind was more content thinking he was accepting death by going to sleep, his mind drifting off with the thought much to his dismay.

Shu was getting all excited, finding this learning stuff to be fun and fulfilling. He didn’t understand much about writing but now he was able to understand his own and recognise letters that were previously unknown to him. Feeling happy with himself he stared at Vegeta curiously when he mentioned the next step, slowly shifting off the bed he walked up to the board, staring at it before looking down at his paper. He recognised some, but he didn’t know how to sound them out and just blankly pointed at a letter each time before withdrawing his finger to look down at his sheet again. He was confused to how he was supposed to do this without help, seeing how all of these letters could be anything. Squeaking anxiously he bounced on his toes, looking between everyone before Vegeta decided T’charrl should help him.

T’charrl didn’t know what he was supposed to do about helping, he was so far away from the board and he couldn’t exactly stand up to point at the individual letters. Slowly trying to sit up he got to about halfway before giving up, looking to Vegeta quickly before back to the board. “Uhh, I guess…umm…second one is ‘B’ which is like ‘bee’ or ‘bih’, umm, on the last word. I think it’s strange. I think it’s like ‘bih’ in this word, though. Umm…” Looking to Vegeta he looked confused and concerned. “How do I teach this? I’m not very good at it too. I can’t even reach the board”.

Kiton gave Sasha a little smile before looking away. “Well…sort of. We retain our strength, but it’s very easy to get lazy and not think to train if we think we’re strong enough to be unbeatable. I really want to unlock my potential eventually”, he spoke before looking back again, “I won’t be your enemy so long as I’m allowed not to be. The Galactic Police already see me as a ‘real nightmare’”. Kiton didn’t really want to fight them anyway, knowing how many of them there were who had been generally pretty nice to him. It would be seen as a form of betrayal he couldn’t forgive himself for. They were nice people willing to be his friends, or at least he thought some of them did at least. He kind of hoped they were his friends and really hoping they weren’t going to abandon him. “Takeshi? Still a long and complicated name, but whatever. He just wanted to fight someone strong, I guess”, he shrugged lightly, rubbing his side, “But I would like to see if they could trust me first before I tried to get to know them better. It could be seen as suspicious…or desperate. They’ve not really wanted to get to know me in return, so I don’t know. I should wait for their signal first”.

[GambolMuse]

Aito wasn't sure if this was going to work, but he hoped to hell it would. They needed Viral to rest again, it was part of the greater scheme of things that would see him recover from his illnesses. Was it easy? No, but then nothing on this agenda would be. The easiest part of all of this was taking his injections periodically, and even that he seemed to have issue with. If he could only sleep, then maybe his recovery would be more promising. Remaining silent, a good many moments passed by before he finally glanced down, curious to see how Viral was getting on. Delightfully, the Beastman's eyes were closed and he appeared to be breathing steadily and rhythmically: was he really asleep though? Watching for a moment longer it appeared to be the case, as normally he would probably notice himself being stared at and glance up. A wide smile crossed Aito's face then, and with a silent clap he settled back down, not wanting to so much as move at risk of waking up his son. Excellent, he'd actually gone to sleep, now hopefully it was a restful one and not just him passing out. They could remain out here as long as needed, and he'd try to gently question Viral once he came to.

Vegeta didn't know what the likelihood of Shu recognizing even one other letter was, but he figured it was worth a try. There would be more pride in figuring it out on his own, or something like that, so why not let him give it a go? Watching the kid silently, there was a slight air of disappointment when he didn't appear to recognize much beyond one or two letters, and even then he couldn't sound them out. He had hoped to let T'charrl help his friend and have them learn together, yet the Kaesstrian seemed to be stumped as well. Letting out a sigh, Vegeta pointed first to 'the' on Shu's sheet, pointing to the three letters in order. He explained what each letter was, the various sounds each could make given the word they were used in, and the sounds they made when paired with one another. Since this seemed to be a bit more challenging than he'd anticipated, Vegeta meticulously went over every letter, sound, and even some very brief punctuation to check and see if they could wrap their minds around that. Perhaps he'd been a little ambitious in going right to sentences, they still hadn't quite the knowledge of just letters yet. "Maybe it's best to get back to square one..." he mumbled, sighing as he rubbed at the side of his head.

"It's kind of crazy to think of how strong you might be able to get. Or how strong the Saiyans can get..." Sasha said thoughtfully, glancing at her own hands with a small smile, "My people aren't known for being especially powerful, Ricken and I are probably already some of the strongest of our kind. It would be insane to have even your power that you have now." Hopefully he wasn't mistaking that for envy, because she wasn't at all envious; what she was feeling was more comparable to wonderment, she was living a fantasy more than anything else. Shaking her head at the mention of the Galactic Police, she smiled at Kiton and gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "I've got an idea to keep them off your back, but I'll have to speak to Korian first. After this let me go see him, we might be able to catch you a break yet." It wasn't the best situation for him, and her solution might not be what he wanted, but then it was going to be more of a cover really. He could travel with whoever he wanted, the only thing would be he'd have to remain under someone's watch fairly regularly. Heading for the door now that she figured they were finished, Sasha glanced back curiously when Takeshi and the others were brought up in conversation. "Well they have been recovering in the hospital to be fair, but... I can take you to them if you want. I know what Korian said, but this is my decision to do this, and I'll take the blame if he gets mad. So... Want to go say hi? I mean... You should probably be there anyways to recover... Right?" she asked, winking knowingly at the Frost Demon.

[Mogtaki]

Two days later the treatment for Viral had only advanced to where he might be able to finally start fighting again, even if it was going to still be a while before that happened. He had slept for an entire day before being woken up with a startle, feeling like he had died. He didn’t die though because he was here now, he was not going to end up dying in his sleep anymore. Viral still didn’t want to talk about his experiences and was pretty set on keeping quiet about his dreams. He found the closer he got to waking up the worse the dream became, even though the majority of the day had been silent and without dreaming. He probably wouldn’t had woken up if it wasn’t because his dreams were coming back. He was still feeling really tired, but it was the after effects from sleeping so long.

While still wanting to sleep and yet not wanting to at the same time, Viral still found himself subjected to the torture that was Vegeta training him under Aito’s suggestion. He didn’t particularly want to be tortured like this, but he did want to be able to fight as well. It was time for him to start training with the pair to see how much control he had over himself and to build up his strength. He didn’t know how to feel about this, he didn’t know if he was actually ready to undertake this either. He did want to believe he was ready to train, but something in the back of his head told him he most certainly wasn’t ready for the task. If Aito and Vegeta thought he was ready then they were the only ones with confidence in him. He had an idea to how this session would play out: it would probably start off with them training, Vegeta getting rough, him getting hurt, Vegeta insisting they’d leave the training for now and do something softer. Waiting for them to get ready he rubbed his head, his eyes looking around the room they were given to privately train. It was spacious, something he didn’t particularly like as if something bad was expected to happen to their facility if given less space. He didn’t know if it was just because it was the only one they had available or if they thought this was going to get vicious because of what could happen to him, but either way he was not settling down just yet.

Kiton was having a hard time adapting to the facility and its rule they had imposed on him to keep him under their watch. He didn’t like how much he had to be observed even if it was just mostly Sasha. It reminded him of being in a prison and he was sure he was going to end up losing out if he screwed up just once. He was not used to being in one place for so long, everyone else had freedom too and even if they insisted on treating him the same way he was still bound to one place under severe restrictions. He was pretty close to just ditching Sasha and going off and see what this planet was like in his own secret way. Either way, he had behaved himself over the last few days if feeling a little annoyed about his limits. He didn’t know if they were watching over him anymore and just letting Sasha hang around him only because they didn’t want to deal with him themselves. He did want to see what the training thing the others were doing was all about, but he wasn’t allowed to because he wasn’t one of ‘them’. He understood what ‘them’ meant, they needed the training and he didn’t. He would like to train more seeing how he was getting better and his muscles were improving, even if everybody else still saw him as a scrawny, tiny alien who was a fair pest to have around.

While everyone had managed to recover, Krom was allowed to fulfil his promise to train the kids and get them ready for what was coming pretty soon, even if they didn’t like him. He didn’t care that they didn’t like him, he wasn’t looking for their approvals and if they weren’t going to want to train with him then that was their problem. This offer was for free, it wasn’t as if they had to pay for any of it whether through hard work or being forced into paying him. While waiting for everyone to get gathered and ready he remained where he was, knowing it might be seen as hostile if he was to go and demand they get ready faster. He wasn’t out unsupervised though, he was being watched over by Aito out of all the people who could’ve. It was funny how Korian didn’t want to and was happy to give the duty to this guy, but it didn’t matter much anyway. He figured the guy was wanting to observe the others and how they might get on and probably to flaunt or something. He couldn’t care much about that, he just wanted to get this done without having to sacrifice his time too much on training a bunch of idiots. They were all Saiyans so they were going to be easy to train while their more alien friend was still having to hang back in hospital for recovery. It wasn’t as if he knew how to train that alien and to him it seemed they were strong enough anyway, if a little uncontrolled. For now, Krom was just trying to deal with the pressure of having to show he was going to be a good trainer, seeing how they all seemed so sensitive and prone to anger if he so much as treated them like a typical Saiyan soldier.

[GambolMuse]

With Father having decided to oversee training, Vegeta found himself once more at the helm of Viral's recovery. Not a necessarily bad thing, and it was refreshing to see the progress had been made. Had he completely recovered? Not in the slightest but even with just a day's worth of sleep one could tell he'd improved. Less agitated, even healthier looking, it was hard to argue with the benefits of some proper rest. Not wanting the efforts to go to waste, Vegeta had planned an entire day out for the Beastman, intent on continuing his recovery to the fullest. Today in particular would include a great deal of training, but perhaps not the training he was expecting. Instead, they would be doing several workouts to rebuild muscle mass and endurance, as those would be crucial in combat training anyways. Just because it was not combat oriented persay did not mean Vegeta intended to take it easy on his brother, in fact he planned for anything but. "I'm sure you've gathered by now that we won't be sparring today," he spoke plainly, hardly wasting time with his words, "Instead, I was thinking we can do some simple exercises, to rebuild your strength. Once you've regained muscle mass and some stamina, then we can go into the sparring. This may not be what you were hoping for, but father and I decided this was the best method of approach for you, so we'll give it a try. Feel up to the task?"

When Sasha had volunteered for watching over Kiton, she hadn't quite appreciated just how dull the job might be. She had mostly taken the post to spare the alien from being with Ricken, and it was a good thing she had; Ricken wouldn't have been nearly as sympathetic as she was trying to be, making this much worse for Kiton. Still though, in having to keep him within the facility, she herself was bound to it as well. Hardly ideal, and there wasn't quite any way to get out of it either. Maybe not the duty itself, but there may be some way to perhaps liven up things a little. She had been deliberating over something for the better part of a day now, and after weighing the risks and benefits she had decided to go for it. As they were sat around Kiton's temporary housing, Sasha took one glance up at the lone window before standing up, clasping her hands together before pointing towards it. "We're going into the city today," she said firmly, "I'm sick of just staying inside here, and I know you must be too. I've been with you constantly since you showed up, I can tell you're not going to do anything. If Korian gets upset then I'll explain it to him, but we're leaving." She didn't know where, or for how long, but it was high time they got out for a little while. Opening up the door to Kiton's room she waved him on, smiling slightly as she did so. "I'll take whatever flack comes our way for this, so don't worry. Now hurry up before someone higher up sees us."

Shu having recovered quick as he did was great, as was the fact they were allowed to go out and do things again. Sure, it stunk that T'charrl wasn't quite well yet, but they'd be stopping by their friends room for daily lessons, so it wasn't as if they weren't seeing him. On top of recovery, they were even going to be trained by someone, a fact that Takeshi really looked forward to; he could fight, sure, but it was woefully apparent by now a trainer he was not, and it was only fitting that someone else take the job. That had been his mentality going into things, but upon seeing Krom waiting for them he quickly doubled back. Honestly, him of all people, HE was training them? Whatever the story about him and his father was aside, he didn't care for the Elite at all. Standing, arms crossed and sour-faced, Takeshi frowned at Krom as they waited for instructions, not at all trying to hide the fact he wasn't happy about this. "Seriously... We have to do what you say? Whose fricken idea was this...?" he grumbled, huffing before pointing at the Elite, "We've beaten you, so how the hell are you supposed to train us? Isn't a trainer supposed to be, you know, stronger than his students?" Okay, maybe that wasn't the case, both he and Shu could probably have moped the floor with Roshi. But there was a big difference between the old pervert and this jerkwad: he actually respected Roshi, and that was something Krom would never have from him.

[Mogtaki]

Viral didn’t want to have his training to be filled with all sorts of soft training and things that were designed for working out and what not. He did want to get stronger and would be happy to finally get back to the level he was at before, but at the moment it seemed highly doubtful that it would properly happen. He didn’t know how he was going to catch up to anyone and hearing how they were all going off to get trained he was never going to be able to get strong enough to be better than them again. It made him incredibly frustrated, he couldn’t stop thinking about it for all of this time he had been ill for and he doubted he would stop thinking about it even once he got out of his rut. Not feeling particularly confident in himself he stood around waiting for Vegeta to tell him what was exactly happening, feeling a little disappointed when it turned out it was just going to be stuff that would be probably slow and gradual, nothing like the intense training the others would be getting into. “Great…like what? Are you planning on having me lift things or something?”

Kiton was awfully bored of being unable to do nearly nothing like this and he was sure Sasha probably was too. He wondered if she was sick of him, whether this was all getting to be too much for her when she was probably used to being around her brother or other people that are probably more interested in being around her. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the company, it was more he didn’t feel he was part of anything and just a waste of time to be around. This was just as bad as being in prison, but at least he didn’t have to worry over his own health in this place and could still see the sky in plain view. Staring down at the floor as he sat around he looked up when Sasha suddenly spoke up, turning to her in both confusion and worry. “What? But you can get in a lot of trouble for that”, he spoke quickly, standing up, “What if we both just end up in jail? It’ll be a disaster!” She really seemed insistent on going through with this much to his dismay, feeling nervous to even try. This was the one good group of people who didn’t want him dead and she was close to having him fall into the trap they’re probably anticipating from him. Letting out a groan he followed after her, feeling worried. “What makes you think you won’t get disciplined for this? You’re going to effectively put these people in danger with me around…”

Krom didn’t have much of a care for what state these kids were in; if they didn’t want to train then they were welcome to stay out of it. They had been warned already of why it was so important so having them all here meant they recognised it was important. Takeshi looked like he was in a mood as usual over this with his brother cowering behind him. It all seemed fairly normal to him and of course Takeshi was the first to speak up about it, turning to him and folding his arms in return. He seemed to had his point of view mixed up, all thinking he beat him. “Excuse you? I don’t remember you ever overpowering me to the point I was collapsed on the ground. I may had left, but that’s not beating me”, he sighed, shaking his head, “I barely attacked you on that planet, you were throwing punches like no tomorrow at me. It was only when your brother got involved did the situation change to this. Do you want to get stronger or do you want to watch others die? Do you want your brother having to constantly fear getting angry? Have you any idea what you’re complaining about?”

[GambolMuse]

"Lift things? You mean like weights? Don't be ridiculous, that would be a waste of time," Vegeta responded, waving his hand dismissively. Well, in some manner of speaking they might be lifting weights, if one could count their own body as weight. This building they were in came with a unique feature, one that he was a little surprised Viral hadn't noticed yet. Yes, it was a fairly empty room in of itself, but then you weren't supposed to put things in a room like this. Waving the Beastman over as he headed for a panel on the wall, he input a series of commands and waited for the screen to light up, an alien language appearing on it. "I'm sure you've heard of people doing increased gravity training before, yes? Well, I figured we would give that a try. It's going to be challenging without a doubt, but if you acclimate to a stronger gravity, your body will be all the better under normal circumstances. It'll be rudimentary exercises and calisthenics, but it'll all be done with increased pressure." Mundane in some ways, yet ingenious in others. Working at a higher gravity should mean his muscles would develop for that, and ergo be even stronger when the load was lightened. "If you'd rather do something else of course you're free to, but this is the reason we came to this exact room."

Sasha was growing weary of being stuck in the base, and she was certain Kiton was as well. He had even been denied in joining the Princes for their training, so without a doubt he was feeling somewhat bitter right now. Bringing him along to train was out of the question, as there was no doubt Korian would be rather angry should they go that route. Fine, there were other things they could do anyways, namely just go out into the city. She had been told to keep Kiton here in the compound, but he wasn't a threat, and she was capable of keeping an eye on him, so why not? She was all for it, yet the Frost Demon still needed some convincing. "We won't end up in jail for it, relax. Neither of us want to sit here and waste our day doing nothing." She wasn't going to let him talk her down this time, she had tried the other day and come up empty handed, but not now. They wouldn't take the front entrance for obvious reasons, yet thankfully there were alternative, far less guarded doors to take. "You're not going to hurt anyone, are you? No? Then no one is in danger, so relax. And if I get disciplined then I get disciplined, I'll accept punishment because I know I'm going against an order," Sasha said with a shrug, turning her head to look back with a smile, "Let me worry about what happens if we get caught, okay? You're under my supervision, so anything that happens falls to me, not you."

Being trained by Krom just seemed like an awful idea, and Takeshi almost retched at the thought of showing him any semblance of respect. He was no better than his former master, and he'd love to do to the Elite what he had to that murderous psychopath, yet he was told they had to go through with this. Having Vegeta's old man here keeping an eye on everything didn't help either, it seriously felt like he was watching their every move. Making his displeasure well known, only getting further frustrated when Krom began arguing back trying to sound like he was in the right. "None of that would be a problem if it wasn't for you, you bastard! You caused all kinds of problems with our father, and now here you are, marching in thinking you can train us and just make it all better! It's bullshit!" Takeshi shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. Hearing someone clear their throat loudly he cringed when he realized it was Aito, and the man had somehow gotten awfully close to them. Turning his head slowly he met the gaze of the doctor, flinching and moving away as the doctor's face was level with his own, wearing an annoyed expression. "Hey! Ease off doc, this is none of your business!"

"It is my business though. I was asked to oversee this session, and that's what I'm doing," Aito responded calmly, standing upright and placing one hand on his hip, "Look... Takeshi. I get what you're feeling, and it's acceptable to feel it, but please look at the bigger picture. Your brother is at risk if he doesn't get this training, and your friends will need you when the real threat comes around. If you're angry, then fine, be angry. But use it as a fuel to spur your training, rather than as a roadblock to progress." If he didn't personally want to train then everyone would suffer for it, that was just how it was. If his own strength was any indication, the potential of Saiyans born on Earth was quite high, they couldn't afford not to train someone else. Turning then to Krom, Aito frowned in disapproval at him. "And you... He's a child, and a loud-mouthed one at that. Not to mention you're supposed to be their instructor here, and yet you're arguing with him despite knowing full well you're right. If you can't keep from going at each other every time some petty disagreement comes up, perhaps you're unfit for this duty. Should we just preemptively take you off now and let me handle the job?"

[Mogtaki]

Viral grumbled at Vegeta’s response, finding it to be most unprofessional of him to ever say something like that. There was nothing ridiculous about weight lifting and it did well enough to keep him in check in the past, just because he thought it was ridiculous what with his Saiyan blood. Just because he was able to get stronger without having to work hard for it didn’t mean his suggestions to keep fit were pointless and a waste of time. Feeling annoyed at him already he narrowed his gaze as he made his way over to whatever he was wanting to show him, staring at it for a moment before looking to him in annoyance when it turned out it was a computer. So this whole room was a computer, probably why they had kept people out of it for their sake. Feeling concerned, Viral frowned when he was told it was for gravity control and he was supposed to train under strong gravity. He was sure that was going to be the death of him, there was no way he was ready for something like this even if it sounded so simple to him. “I’ve heard of aliens like you Saiyans and other idiots do it, sure…” he mumbled, giving him an annoyed look, “Was it Aito who put you up to this? Does he think just because I slept I’d be healthy enough for this? And don’t think I’m just making excuses…”

Kiton didn’t know how this could possibly be a good idea and what was worse was they were probably blame him even if Sasha tried to take the blame. None of them knew if any of the citizens they might run into might pay attention to the networks regarding wanted criminals or were generally scared of anything that resembled a demon so there was a lot of risk. There was also the risk of him getting lost regarding how short he is and he doubted himself that he would want to go back to confinement, he wouldn’t know how he would feel on the moment. Feeling pretty frightened of himself messing up more than Sasha messing up he continued to have bad feelings over the whole excursion, looking back constantly as if looking for snitches. “Then that will make me feel guilty. This is going to end badly, I know it…” Finding it rather difficult to shake off the terrible feelings he looked up to Sasha with a frown, not feeling too confident that this was going to be a positive outing. “I’ll still worry about it, especially if they hand me down to someone else because I’m a ‘bad influence’ or something. If this ends with me getting someone else to watch over me I’m not going to be happy…”

Krom saw no reason to be nice to Takeshi and if he had to he would beat him into the ground. It would make Takeshi stronger at least so he couldn’t complain about that, surely. The problem one in the group wasn’t Takeshi anyway, despite all his barking. He needed to give the youngest proper training first so that maybe he could fight without fear, but Takeshi was busy having a good rage and being generally uncooperative. Having little care for his little temper tantrum he did notice that Takeshi was scaring his brother which probably wasn’t a good idea. If there was anything to learn from animals it was they got aggressive when scared and if Takeshi set him off then Takeshi would pay the price in full. Maybe it would teach him a lesson, but unfortunately Aito decided to speak up much to his annoyance. Running his fingers through his long hair he looked to him when he decided to instead play parent to him as well, finding it most distracting. “Are you even a Saiyan? Don’t you know anything about us? This is how we do it back home. This isn’t some…some Earthling school, you know. If he wants to rage, then let him rage and know the consequences of his haste!”

[GambolMuse]

Gravity training: not the most mundane of methods to be certain, but would it work? Viral appeared to be handling Uuonoe's gravity just fine, and it was reportedly just a bit stronger than Earth's. So what factor should they try then? If Uuonoe was comparable to their home world, then they could accurately make conclusions about what strengths the Beastman could handle. Two times? Five times normal gravity? Given his current condition it was best not to do anything absurd, so maybe just twice the gravity for the time being. "No, rather I suggested it to dad, and he thought it was a good idea. If done correctly and in moderation this could help you rebuild strength quicker than some simple weight lifting. And no, we're not foolish enough to think that just because you slept that your body has recovered. We'll try this slowly, day by day, to see how you acclimate to it." There was still no explicit consent on Viral's behalf, but Vegeta went ahead and put in the commands for the room regardless. They wouldn't actually apply until one final prompt was given to the console, and he was holding off until the Beastman gave the okay to do so. "I've set it only to twice regular gravity. You should be capable of handling that, and we'll do some simple exercises to start with. If you feel more comfortable with it however then we can always move up in difficulty. Do you feel ready to try, or shall we do something else? I'd like to know before long, if it's all the same."

Sasha was all for going out like this, she wanted a chance to go around Uuonoe with Kiton and show him what it was like. They had taken criminals into their ranks before and reformed them, so why couldn't they do the same with him? Most people went to crime because they needed something, and if he joined them then he'd have everything he'd need, she just had to show him that. "It's only going to end badly if you keep thinking it will. At worst we'll be escorted back here and we'll be back to square one, that's it. I know those in charge around here seem stiff at times, but they're only trying to ensure everyone's safety. They won't fly off the handle if they see us out and about." At least they shouldn't, but sometimes it was hard to be certain with them. Leading through a series of hallways, the pair of them made it out to a storage room, a set of large metal doors on the far end for shipments of supplies to be shuttled in. "I won't let that happen, okay? I doubt your friends would either. They might be busy right now, but they're not the type to just abandon someone." They hadn't abandoned her and Ricken even when they had been confrontational, and they weren't going to start now, she was sure of it. Using a keypad along one of the doors she put in the passcode easily, watching as the door slid open for them before smiling and leaping out, waving Kiton on to follow.

Takeshi and Krom quite clearly were not going to get along, which was obviously a problem. Then there was the matter of Shu, the nervous little boy who seemed to be quite fraught as his brother and their instructor went at it yet again. If this was how these sessions were going to progress then they should shut them down now, before more harm might be done. They hadn't even thrown a punch and Aito found himself having to intervene, trying to calm both Takeshi and Krom down, hoping to talk some sense into them. He'd managed to shut the older of the brothers up for the moment, but it seemed like Krom wasn't quite done just yet. Giving the Elite an almost uninterested look he let out a sigh, wondering how it was so difficult for him to pick up on what was being said. "I'm a Saiyan who has a brain, but yes, I'm a Saiyan. I know plenty about my own people, I just don't resort to berating children and muscling my way through every situation. Frankly that's barbaric and far below us," the doctor responded plainly, frowning as he met Krom's gaze. "So you think that a boy who has felt rage all his life will just... Stop? Or rather, you think you can bring about that change? Instead of proposing the impossible, consider using it to your advantage. If he's angry then make him use that anger, it can be a wonderful thing for motivation when training. Instead of trying to break them down, push them to improve by giving them goals, don't belittle them and expect them to rise above it. They're children who don't know Saiyan civilization like you do, you can't expect them to conform to your ways."

"Hey, old guys? We're right here you know... We can hear what you're saying," Takeshi butted in, frowning at being spoken about so casually. Aito was at least talking some sense into Krom, or trying to, far better than he'd been able to at any rate. He didn't exactly get how anger was going to be motivation, unless it was motivation to knock Krom out, then he was all for it. The older boy did reel back his anger some if only for Shu's sake, giving his brother but a simple, apologetic glance before turning back to the adults. He had to try and do this for everyone else's sake, it was just so difficult to look past his blatant disdain for the Elite. "Krom... Go easy on Shu, okay? Treat me like one of your trainees, I already went through that crap once, it's not so bad. But don't be hard on him," Takeshi said firmly, wanting to make his stance well known here, "Until he's okay I don't want you scaring him or making him feel bad, he doesn't need that from you, or anyone." Especially him, which meant getting this anger of his under lock and key. Easier said than done, though.

[Mogtaki]

Viral was close to going on a full blown rant about this type of training and how it was going to be a lot more dangerous for someone like him, but maybe he should give it a chance and maybe Vegeta can show him he knew what he was doing when it came to this type of training. He didn’t know how high he was going to set the gravity but he figured it wouldn’t be too much at first, but even then it could end up being a strain on his heart. His health was still very poor and it wasn’t hard to see that, but he was still wanting to get better even with his unwillingness to push it further by actually trying to eat. He would eat if he could, but every time he looked at food he had a panic attack and eating through one would most likely cause him to choke. It was too much of a health hazard and nothing much had been done to try and fix that yet, but it wasn’t as if he knew where or how to. Watching Vegeta input the commands he let out a groan, looking off to the side before back to Vegeta, frowning. “I’d rather not go higher just because I feel comfortable. Who knows how big the difference will be”, he spoke lowly, looking away again, “I feel ready, but I don’t know what you’re planning with these ‘exercises’ of yours yet…”

“What will also happen is they’ll reassign me with someone else! Someone who is probably strict and completely terrible”, Kiton frowned, shaking his head quickly before looking around again to see if there was anybody around again. It was one of these paranoia moments he usually had when escaping from prisons, something he often went through. “Well here’s hoping nothing happens while we’re out or I’m taking the blame. Trouble always follows the one that always causes it in the first place, or whatever that saying is…” Keeping fairly close behind her he felt incredibly paranoid, worried that he was going to end up being questioned because of his suspicious movements. He didn’t mean to act so suspicious, it was just hard to not feel like he was going to feel the inevitable hand on the shoulder pulling him back. “My friends? Do they even consider me a friend? I was picked out of a wreck after nearly killing an entire race, they barely talk to me too”. Watching as the door opened up and Sasha jumped out he looked behind himself really quickly, feeling uneasy before following her out.

Krom was pretty uninterested with arguing and he was certainly not planning on doing it for very long, only to stand up for his decision to tell Takeshi off. It wasn’t his fault that Takeshi was so moody and arrogant, but it was Aito’s fault for not understanding how this training was going to work. He was going to need to get them into the mood of fighting for the training to really count, otherwise it was going to be pointless and they wouldn’t be able to work very fast. Folding his arms as Aito spoke he sighed heavily, finding this all to be completely pointless. “I don’t need you lecturing me right now. Of course I’m going to use the anger! I just don’t want that anger to be stupid arrogance over true anger, mistakes would be made then. It would be frankly stupid to be gentle…”

When Takeshi decided to speak up for himself Krom looked back towards him, staring at him before letting out a groaning sigh. It was probably about time they got started on this training so he could move onto getting the other lot all trained up too at the same pace. They all needed to be up to steam and it would be rather unfair to just train up Yamate’s kids over the others. Unfolding his arms he stared at Takeshi who only asked that he go easy on the youngest kid. It was going to be difficult to do that, especially given what he was going to have to teach the kid. “Hmm well, that’s the problem with him; I’ll have to treat him differently than my trainees”, he started off, almost thinking to tell them about Shu but thinking otherwise, “While you have your sense when angry, Shu does not…or rather, his mind goes so backwards that any sense he might have while calm is thrown out the window. It’s perfectly natural…for him, the anger he feels, to make him change form as his power increases. Because he has no control over his anger or the changes, I’d rather not use the same methods on him that I will be for you…not unless I want to get scratched apart and put you in danger! It’ll have to be addressed eventually…but, maybe Aito here would be best addressing that since I’m sure he knows so much more than I…”

[GambolMuse]

"If we go with just twice the normal gravity, I can't imagine you'll have very much trouble. But then the point of this isn't to put you in a pinch, it's just to warm you back up... In a manner of speaking," Vegeta said, raising an eyebrow when Viral questioned him. "Nothing too terribly difficult. Really we're just going to focus on rudimentary exercises, push-ups, curls, lunges, the most basic things you can imagine. We should work on getting your body used to continuous physical activity before we begin really pushing it." The added gravity was just to make it a little more challenging, which hopefully would push Viral more in turn. It might also have the opposite effect and turn him off of the practice entirely; Vegeta hoped Viral would take to this regiment they'd come up with for him. "Now then... I'll go ahead and start it up, and it'll take a moment for the effects to sink in. Once you feel like you're ready, we can get to work." Pressing the final commands, the room felt like it almost vibrated briefly before a low drumming sound started up. Nothing happened immediately, and then one might notice that, with each passing second, one's body would begin to feel somewhat heavier. It didn't last long however as twice the gravity was an easy feat for this machine, and when it was done Vegeta couldn't feel much himself. But then they weren't gauging his take on it, now were they? "Well? How do you feel?"

Kiton was an absolute nervous wreck over this, despite her continued reassurances he would be fine. Maybe once they were out a bit and he saw he was safe then he'd calm down, she certainly hoped so as he hadn't a clue what to say to make it better. Even with him being uncertain about this he still followed her out, and it wasn't long before they were out on the street either, having left through a rarely used access gate for locals. "You're going to be fine Kiton, I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't positive on that. If anything happens to us then it'll fall on me, like I said. And I'll fight to get someone who you can trust to watch you if I do get pulled, okay? Please, I'm trying to do you a favor here, so enjoy it," Sasha answered, letting out a soft sigh as he continued to voice his doubts, "I don't know the answer to that and you know it. They're busy, but I'm sure if they weren't then they would come and talk to you. Wait until they're done training, then you can ask them yourself." Or... She could take him there to see the training for themselves, if he wanted to. That didn't sound like a half bad idea honestly, maybe they could even gain something from it. Rounding a corner on the complex she gasped when she ran into someone larger than herself, bouncing off them slightly and stumbling before glancing up, smiling sheepishly. "Oh... Leto... Hi..."

"Miss Sasha? I'm surprised to see you out here," Leto said confused, tilting his head at the woman, "What are you..." The large Yulian trailed off when he noticed Kiton was with her as well, blinking a few times as if he wasn't believing it. Hadn't Korian told her to keep him in the compound? Sure, they were only just outside the walls, but still... "Er... I don't mean to pry, but isn't he..."

"Yes, yes he's supposed to be inside, but I wanted to let him out!" Sasha said quickly, "He's a good person Leto, and he's not going to cause any problems while we're out here. He feels like he's in prison in there, and I don't want that to be his impression of this world, or of us. I'm still watching him, I'll just be doing it... Not here. If you're going to punish one of us for sneaking out though then punish me, it was my idea!" Bowing her head she closed her eyes and awaited some kind of verdict. Leto technically outranked her and could act on that, if he so chose to. Rather than be reprimanded however the only sound she got out of the Yulian was... Crying? Lifting her head confused she furrowed her brow at seeing him sniffling into one of his arms, standing back up awkwardly and exchanging a glance with Kiton.

"Oh, Miss Sasha! You're being so compassionate to our newest friend, it brings tears to my eyes and makes my heart swell with joy!" Leto announced loudly, sniffling before staring at the pair through a watery gaze. "I was shown the very same compassion when I was defeated here, and I've since devoted myself entirely to this cause! I can sympathize with your plight, my young friends, and I fully support your decision to leave!" Oh, but what if someone else saw them? They may not be nearly as sympathetic as he was, and he didn't want either Sasha or Kiton to be punished for such a glorious deed. But wait... If he were to accompany them... Reaching out quickly he grabbed hold of Sasha's shoulders, his hands covering them entirely as he leaned down to come to eye level with her. "Miss Sasha, Kiton, let me accompany you! I swear on all that is good that I will keep you from scrutiny or harm! A man will never allow such an act to go interrupted!"

Oh right, she'd forgotten what an oaf this massive man was. He had a good hear though, and it was an immense relief he wasn't going to turn them in. But to join them? It certainly would make it seem a bit less conspicuous if they had an officer tagging along, but he was hardly someone she'd ever imagined spending an afternoon with. Trying to smile despite her mouth twitching awkwardly she looked into Leto's still watering eyes, having to avert her gaze before shrugging off his massive mitts. "Fine, I can't say no to that. But please, Leto... Don't go and make a scene about this later, okay? If Korian gets wind of this and is mad then let me take the fall, not you."

Aito really had no use for Krom's tactics, yet he also had to bear in mind the Elite was supposed to be handling the training, not him. Courtesy dictated he respect Korian's decision to allow this, but the methods that Saiyans used for training were hardly ideal, especially for two questionably stable boys. Stepping back as Takeshi began going off again he was somewhat relieved it wasn't quite as irate and vocal as his outburst before, yet there was still plenty of conflict there. He supposed that was going to be a permanent factor, and could only hope it was somehow used in a positive manner. It was true that Shu's and Takeshi's cases here differed greatly, and the methods would as well, he could confirm as much. But then that was why he thought more gentle methods might suit the younger boy better, as not to agitate him and risk a transformation. Speaking of, was Krom asking him for information? Looking over and seeing the Elite's attention on him he nodded slightly, clearing his throat before speaking.

"Most people are taught how to properly express themselves growing up, albeit this varies from culture to culture. On a very basic note then, Shu was never given the proper training growing up to deal with that, and because of what he is, his power is influenced by his sometimes rampant emotions," Aito explained, looking over at the aforementioned boy before smiling sympathetically, "Through no fault of his own he struggles to maintain his calm, and he doesn't know how to regain it once its lost. Krom's suggesting he learn to do such a thing, and learn to keep his wits about him even when enraged. Now... The reason as to why he loses control when he transforms..." Just how precisely to explain that then? He knew how it worked quite well, yet how to explain it to someone like Takeshi, or Shu for that matter? It was a rude way of saying it, but he needed to 'dumb down' the explanation for their sake. "Well... Think of it this way: Shu already has trouble with his emotions, especially anger, correct? When a Saiyan's anger spirals their power can increase, sometimes even beyond what they might normally achieve. On top of that, those capable of taking on an Oozaru are susceptible to unwillingly transforming due to the surge in power. While all of this power spiking is occurring, testosterone levels spike and give rise to heightened aggression, doing away essentially with logic and reason. To put it in even simpler terms: Shu becomes angry, gets stronger, and that continues as he spirals out of control. It's a cycle that feeds into itself."

So Shu was basically stuck like that when it happened? Getting angry, gaining power, getting even angrier, that couldn't be fun. "So basically... It's kind of like he gets so mad it's all he can do, is be mad? And everything just sort of makes it worse?" Takeshi asked, frowning as Aito nodded his head. Well that would explain why Shu would get angry whenever he tried helping, or anyone for that matter. What was the best thing to do in that case then? Isolate him? Even he could see that as a problem though, it'd probably make Shu afraid, which would make him angry, and they would be no better off. Emotional stuff seemed to be more in the region of Aito and Vegeta, but Krom was saying he knew how to fix it, and Shu really did need that help. The notion of having the Elite do anything for them was off-putting, yet if he was their only choice for help... Clenching his fists as he glared up at the Saiyan for a silent moment, Takeshi finally relented and lowered his gaze, letting out a sigh as his arms hung dejectedly at his sides. "Fine... We'll do what you say. Just... Swear you can make Shu better," he said, looking over at his brother worriedly, "I'll do whatever it takes to help him, I don't want to see him suffering anymore." Reaching over he smiled sadly, giving Shu's hair a light ruffle to try and help him calm down a little. "Things are going to work out buddy, you're gonna be just fine."