When the smoke cleared and the embers of energy faded onto the wind, it revealed Gohan standing perfectly unscathed in the center. Patting his hands down and dusting off his gi, the young warrior breathed a sigh of relief and went about loosening his arms and shoulders. "Good work out. But if I want to get stronger, I'm gonna have to do a lot more than that over the next few months." Yep. He had a whole list of sessions to work into his days, including technique control and intense weight training.
Before that though, he had a couple other things to have sorted first.
While standing at the top of that hill, the youngster then became aware of a set of eyes on him and turned to see Zangya now standing behind him. Not at all surprised to see her, Gohan gave her a charming smile, "Don't you get a little bit tired just hanging around outside my house all day and night?"
The orange haired girl shrugged, "Well… I'm still new to this planet and I don't have anywhere else to go… plus this place is pretty quiet." A small smile of her own pulled across her lips while she gazed into the distance. "Out here I don't have to worry about traffic, currency, food shortage issues, huge crowds, and people stopping to stare at me whenever I walk past them. Sure I can deal with the attention, but I'd rather just hang out in an area like this where there are only animals and small villages to worry about."
"Hm? Why do you say that?" Gohan asked, not quite seeing the problem.
Zangya looked back at him with an amused smirk, "You may not have noticed this, but it's kind of hard to fit into earth's society when you're a striking alien girl like me… having blue skin, pointy ears and all that nonsense. You and your kind don't have to worry about these kinds of problems, since you Saiya-jins already look a lot like humans and can walk around without having to worry about scaring the daylights out of people every time they glance in your general direction." Vegeta was kind of a massive exception to that fact.
That man was scary by default.
Despite her concerns regarding her appearance though, Gohan merely smiled back at her kindly and shrugged, "I don't see what the big problem is, Zangya. I'm sure you can walk around wherever you want just fine. You look pretty normal to me."
Zangya's expression softened upon hearing the youngster say that, "You're sweet."
Giggling, Gohan massaged his scalp and turned to look towards the horizon as well. Seeing the sun starting to peak over the mountains, the young half-Saiyan chuckled and glanced back at the woman standing in front of him. "I've got a couple hours before Videl comes around. Would you like to hang out with me and have a little sparring match?" The young fighter raised a hand and clenched his fist excitedly. "I think it would be awesome to have another training partner besides Piccolo and myself."
The former gangster chuckled and stepped away, arms still comfortably folded over her chest. "No thanks. I'm not really in the mood."
Gohan responded with a disappointed groan, "Aww. Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm pretty sure," Zangya replied, rolling her eyes at the crestfallen, puppy-eyed look the strongest warrior in the universe was now sending her way. "You already proved several weeks ago that you can beat me without breaking a sweat in your current form, so I think I'll play it safe and stick to watching you for the time being." She then glanced at him when she saw his expression fall just a little bit more and then smirked at him confidently. "But… if you ever turn back to normal and you're still up for it, I'll strongly reconsider having a few bouts with you across the countryside."
This inevitably had the young teenager brighten and tighten his fists with enthusiasm. "Alright. Sure. That sounds awesome."
"Is it just me… or did that sound like you were wussing out there for a second?" the familiar, gravelly voice of Piccolo resounded over the area as the warrior descended from the sky to land between the pair. "I never expected to hear that coming from you."
Glancing at the caped Namekian guardian, Zangya snorted, "Oh. Look who it is. It's the green man." The girl shot him a mischievous smile, "Still dropping in everyday to check up on me, huh?"
"You and Gohan both," Piccolo replied, arms crossed and a glare set on the orange haired warrior standing in close proximity of his student. "I'm just making sure that you don't try anything funny while you're hiding out here in the valleys. You know… being Bojack's former henchwoman and all." You can't be too careful with these kinds of characters. They could be very unpredictable.
All evidence to the contrary though…
"That guy can suck a meteor spike for all I care," the Hera shot back immediately with a frown on her face. Seeing the pair staring at her, the former invader of their planet flicked her hair away and turned her back on the green-skinned martial artist. "You don't have to worry about me blowing a cork while I'm down here. I'm not interested in fighting you guys anymore. I'm done with that kind of life."
"Hmph," Piccolo grunted, before focusing his gaze to his transformed student standing nearby and staring up at him with a smile on his face.
"Hey, Piccolo."
The child's cheerful exterior quickly drew a smile from the Namekian as well. "What's shakin' kid? Did you finish your training for this morning?"
Gohan shrugged, "Not quite. I was hoping to have a little spar with Zangya while she's here, but she said she doesn't want to right now. I'm a little bit disappointed." His attention momentarily pulled across to the woman who merely glanced back at him. After seeing her stick her tongue out, he then turned to his mentor and saw the man remove his cape and turban.
"Don't bleed your heart over it, kid. I wouldn't mind going a few rounds with you for the next hour or so." Unlike their newfound alien friend, if you wanted to call her that, Piccolo wasn't afraid of getting a few bumps and bruises in a fight against the young Saiyan. After seeing his stellar performance against Kana a few days earlier and seeing the progress he's made since the Intergalactic Tournament, the Namekian was confident he had nothing to worry about. He could trust his student enough to be able to control his power around him. "Let's work a bit before that girlfriend of yours shows up."
Not even shirking at the jab about Videl, seeing as his teacher was game for a bit of fun, Gohan cracked his neck and slid into a fighting stance just as his friend of years past did as well. "We've got time. Let's make the most of it, okay Piccolo?"
"Heh. No problem."
Zangya, sensing conflict, wisely chose to put some distance between her and the pair, and floated over to sit atop a nearby log. Crossing her legs over, the orange haired space pirate got comfortable as she watched the pair size themselves up before, in a blur of superhuman movement, threw themselves into a friendly match.
Just like he intended, Gohan kept his power down at the lowest possible decibel as he began trading blows with his teacher across the skies. It wasn't just a workout for the Namekian trying to keep up with his Ascended Saiyan opponent, it was also proving to be a lot of work for Gohan as well, since the adolescent warrior had to keep an extra eye on the amount of power he was using at all times. The next hour or so was spent by the teen primarily working on his control and even when his teacher started throwing some big moves his way, the youngster did marvelously at keeping his strength at a low enough level.
Time eventually ticked over to the end of the session and when the pair dropped out of the sky and landed back on solid ground, both of them were looking a little bit beat, yet were still standing in relatively good condition.
Wiping a small bruise away from a punch he'd received across the face, Piccolo smiled. "Not bad, kid. I'd say with a couple more months of this training, you'll be able to gain complete control over your Ascended Saiyan form and fight with it without exerting any effort whatsoever."
Breathing out as well, the unscathed Gohan stood up and stretched his arms out, "Yeah. I think so too. It's really hard trying to keep so much power suppressed and to fight using only the bare minimum. But if I keep at it and continue using it on a regular basis, I'll be able to transform into a Super Saiyan 2 and fight with it anytime, no problem."
"Heh. I like how you're finally starting to come out of that shell of yours," Piccolo remarked, straightening up and giving his student a sagely look. "You're not the same Gohan I knew two months ago; the kid who was hesitant about stepping up and giving it his all. You're a lot more confident and sure of yourself now. Even though you still act a lot like your father, you're slowly turning into a warrior all your own." A wider smile formed on his face. "All of your hard work is really starting to pay off."
Feeling his spirit lift a little at that remark, the youngster then looked across at their audience member, who was still watching them closely from her log. "What do you think, Zangya?"
The orange haired woman gave an off-handed wave and spoke up, "I wasn't here for all of that Cell and android stuff but… yeah. I agree with what the green man said." She then threw the boy a smile and a thumbs-up. "Good job, blondie."
Accepting that as her answer with a gleeful grin, Gohan hummed away the splashes of encouragement and watched as his teacher retrieved his turban and cloak. Limbering up while the Namekian dusted himself down, the half-Saiyan then reached out with his senses to see what was going on across the ether.
XXX
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