"Ughhhh" he grunted, struggling against the ice as his brother revealed the power he had over his bones, his wrist manifesting into a tube of some sort, leveling it at his chest as one would a gun. "Looks like I lose, don't I big brother..." he commented, growing angry with himself for allowing himself to be captured like this. As the needle was fired from the weapon, a brief look of surprise registered on his face, before the needle tore into the ice in his chest, shattering it all like so much glass and releasing the young man from it's frigid grasp.

"Well Hachi, you certainly weren't kidding about making heavy gains on your training. Now my question, is when do we start!" Excited at the thought of pushing himself further, a renewed vigor lit a flame in the saiyan's eyes, sliding instinctively into a combat stance. "Lets go already Hachi, your not getting old and tired are you big brother?"

OOC: 250 words

During the time of their fight, a horrid blizzard had blown in, immediately chilling the skin and numbing their feet. The wind whipped and the ice stung, the perfect training ground to breed strong warriors. The first of many tasks were the dodging and reacting to the needles of bone, this was a test of reaction time, of keen sight, and of strength as the rather thin and fast bullets could easily be lost in the flurry and packed a hell of a punch.

Each bone bullet travelled at different speeds, all within Ryder’s capabilities, but on the extremes of painfully easy and neigh impossible.

Looking up, he watched as Hachi's form was enveloped in the storm, the details fading in and out, with only an outline clearly evident against the white. Suddenly, the outline raised it's arm, and a flash of recognition flashed through the young saiyan's mind. ~That's the same posture he used when he fired the bone before...~ And that was all the time he had as he bent to the side, a bone shard lightly scratching his cheek, the blood crystallizing as it entered the frigid air.

Reacting swiftly, the boy focused inwards, releasing his mind and thoughts to the moment, acting and reacting instinctively. No mind, all action, he launched into a rapid series of evasions, shifting his body the minimal amount to avoid the sharp weapons fired at him, lost to the task at hand. Swift and fluid he weaved through the bones, relying as much on his sight as on his instincts to avoid the deadly projectiles.

This seemed to go on for hours, though exactly how long it was, Ryder could not tell. All that was clear to him, as the blizzard finally drew to a lull, revealing his brother once more, was that he was drenched in his own frozen sweat. As the barrage finally slowed to a halt, he took the opportunity to stretch himself, relaxing the muscles he'd worked during the exercise and breaking off all the ice that had accumulated on him.

OOC: 310 words

The very beginning of their training started with two foot hurdles, spaced apart well and only moderately fast, an introduction to the training in a way. Once the saiyan got the hang of things, it would slowly get faster and more frequent until they became varied in how they were sent out. When Ryder seemed to master the first ‘level’ of the new training, they would become varying heights, even jabbing up at him should he get too close. The training would progress with a number of things varying to keep the training from turning into a rhythm Ryder could follow, even introducing a jumper of attacks he had to duck from, dodge to the side, and sometimes both, sending Ryder into a jump only to send a wave for him to quickly turn away from to dodge.

If Ryder completed everything and did not give up till sunset, he would be given a break, a small amount of time to reflect and talk in the sauna. The sauna was a time for both to reflect and set up what was to happen later, should the trainings be too easy, Hachi would increase their difficulty until it was tough enough, or if it was too tough, he would set the saiyan straight and continue as planned.

OOC: 396

Slowly, a small wave of snow slushed towards him from Hachi's location, gradually picking up speed as it moved towards him. Simple enough, Ryder leaped over the wave, casually jogging towards his brother through the assault.

Just as he drew near, however, a massive wave rose up infront of him, far too swift and sudden for the lad to evade, capturing him and sending him flying back into the distance, giving a good mile or two between the brothers, with the snow between them swiftly filling with ripples of power as Hachi took control over the region, preparing to hurl all manner of obstacles at the warrior in his charge.

"Woah, I have GOT to learn how to do this!" He exclaimed, rushing towards the elder warrior, as the first of the larger waves erupted from the tundra ahead of him, a large wave much taller than himself. Reacting swiftly, the saiyan bounded over it, only to find a column of ice almost ontop of him.

Reacting instinctively, he shifted his body mid-leap, curling around the column and slamming his feet against it as he passed, bounding up again over the massive wave that was just beyond, leaping again off the top, only to have a spike explode upwards, aimed at his midsection.

Without time for thought, Ryder snapped his arms down, grabbing the spike around the tip as it extended into the air, waiting until another spike shot up at him at an angle before forcing himself off of it with his arms, flipping through the air to land smoothly on the diagonal spike, 'surfing' his way down the ice.

Half-way down, the column shattered beneath him, as a small cluster of the same type of spikes exploded from beneath him, with a massive wave, far higher than he could hope to escape baring down on him from Hachi's direction.

In a quick burst of insight, the saiyan bent down, grabbing a huge chunk of the column and using it to propel himself down into the center of the spike columns, sheltering as the massive wave tore against the ice, passing by it leaving him unharmed.

Uncertain what other sorts of hazards his devious teacher would devise, Ryder deliverred a powerful spinning back kick to one of the columns facing the side, shattering it and diving through the cascading ice as he rolled back to his feet, already rushing once more towards Hachi.

On and on this went, wave after wave, spikes and columns, guysers and cave-ins, every manner of obstacle one could possibly put to mind that could be done with ice assailed the young man, for hours he pushed himself, fighting against the current, giving it everything he had in his being, striving with all his might to complete this training, to make his brother proud.

Just as the sun finally hid itself beneath the horizon Ryder found himself leaping off the final barricade, only to have it explode behind him, propelling him directly towards Hachi himself. Grinning, and soaked with sweat from the effort of fighting the battle that lay before him, Ryder opted to end the day's training with a battle of another sort, spinning with the explosion, only to snap his leg at the last second, delivering a powerful spinning roundhouse kick aimed directly towards Hachi's jaw with little if any warning. ~See bro, totally told you I could do it!~ He relished in his mind at the start of another fight.

OOC: 621 words

Though the daemon hoped for mental stability, the spirit voice called out to him, telling him to fight harder, that the saiyan was not as fragile as he was treating him, he needed a firm hand and a powerful challenge in order to grow into a strong warrior. The voice was right, as it often was, so Hachi decided his attacks would lay down serious pain should they land, and a majority of his strikes would be just a step blow blurs.

OOC: 206

Reacting once more through his instinct and fighting spirit, Ryder snatched his arms out as he fell, feeling the kick slam into his chest, the impact lessened both by his downward momentum and his arms on the ankle, before converting the momentum of the strike, spinning mid-air as the pair swiftly fell, slamming a kick towards the back of Hachi's head from out of view, prepared to kick the head just before his brother landed face-first in the snow.

~You've been holding back on me big brother, that one was harder than the others. You still think I'm a child, don't you. I still haven't proven myself. Come on Ryder, hold nothing back, let it all go and give him everything. I can beat him.~ That was the final thought that crossed his mind before it was filled with a void of emptiness, committed to the moment, to the fight, to winning.

As he'd grown up, Ryder had always been in the shadow of his elder brother, though shortly before he had moved to icer the saiyan boy believed he had nearly caught up to his elder. But now, now he was proving himself to be ever more the child, to have lost so much ground, so quickly, was embarrassing to the young man, who prided himself on his strict training and talent for fighting and combat.

"I will not lose!" He exclaimed, feeling his commitment to absolute victory rising up with in him, refusing to be left behind his brother, to be the child and need to be taken easy on. In the black void, there was a surge of power, an explosion of white fury that bathed Ryder's mind with power, accelerating the kick, delivering even more force to the spinning motion that would slam Hachi into the ground if it succeeded. The lad had truly tapped into his Saiyan heritage for the first time, and would accept nothing less than absolute victory in battle this day. Nothing would stand in his way, not Hachi, not this damned planet, NOTHING.

OOC: 400 words

Hachi was off like a shot, pushing the very edges of speed where his brother could still fight back, but holding almost nothing back behind his attacks. The attack was simple; a lithe motion to step in and deliver a powerful shot to the chest with his other arm playing defensively. The attack packed such power he was quite sure if he aimed for a limb or a weaker bone he would have snapped it in twain.

Standing there, surrounded by a visible, was Hachi, at last releasing the hold he had on his power. "So you decided to come out and play for real huh big brother?" Mocked Ryder, a slight bit more arrogant than usual while tapping his inner nature, and committed to this battle with all he had. And he would need every last ounce of strength he had.

In a heartbeat, Hachi was blurring towards him, so fast Ryder could barely follow the movements. It was all he could do to leap backwards, buying himself an extra instant of reaction time as the fist snapped out towards him. With his arms up in a defensive posture he just managed to deflect the blow, scraping against his shoulder painfully as he locked his grip on the wrist, smiling deceptively into Hachi's eyes as he drew his free fist back as though to throw a punch.

In that instant, a powerful kick snapped forwards, aimed directly at Hachi's shin with all the force Ryder could put into it, holding nothing back, letting his instincts guide him to the most effective attacks. As the kick started, so too did the fake-out punch, coming to a stop in a defensive posture just as the kick would be landing.

OOC: 268 words

In IM Kryeed said to respond as though he had replied properly to my prior attack, so here goes.

This was the way it needed to be, Hachi needed to dominate, to make Ryder feel his saiyan blood boil and his honor threatened if he were to progress any farther in his training, he needed a firm hand rather than a brothers support, he needed an opponent. Nothing was left to do now as a brother for Hachi, he needed to beat this saiyan within an inch of his life and he needed to get him healed.

By now the boy knew all too well that another attack would be following quickly in it's wake, and it seemed there was nothing he could do to stop it. This fight was going to end soon, and while the saiyan youth had surprised his teacher, he had failed to overcome him, to fight as equals, as men. And that, that was a cost he could not bear. This wrath, this fury had empowered him, but it had also weakened his instincts, it was powerful, but not tempered by the controlled precision he tended to exercise while fighting in his normal state.

~Focus, focus, FOCUS!~ He shouted in his mind, before he released all the thoughts, reaching back inside him once more, forcing the black void to consume the white fury. As the black returned, he could feel something else, a power yet restrained, an influence hidden from him, held back all these years. In that moment, that split second that stretched into an eternity, Ryder found the rest of the power that had been hidden from him, just waiting to meet the need.

Within his mind, the black void shifted slightly, changing to a deep, dark purple, nearly black. The emptiness was there, along with a surging power, an energy that filled him with it's strength.

Outside, in the heartbeat it took for Ryder's flight to carry him towards the apex and for Hachi to explode towards him, intent on delivering a strike, a purple-black aura erupted from Ryder's flesh, crackling around him like a living serpent, licking and dancing across his flesh with the raw power. In that instant, he could see his brother so much more clearly, see him drawing his knee back and the angle he would strike.

Reacting to the attack, the boy allowed the energy in his aura to explode slightly to one side, twisting him such as to weaken the impact as he snapped has arms around the leg, using his newfound might to twist the ankle into an agonizing position as they fell, his bodyweight positioning his brother to this time fall on his contorted knee, easily knocking it out of socket were the man any weaker than Ryder had become.

However, as quickly as that inner power had come, it would just as swiftly fade away. The boy had neither trained nor mastered the dark energy within, and as soon as he completed the attempt it would swiftly fizzle away, leaving him stunned and in shock, both at the power he had unlocked within, and at the sudden emptiness left within him when it was gone.

~I... I did it... he gave everything he had and I... I met him on equal terms. Maybe... maybe now Hachi will finally... finally accept me as a man~ He thought happily in the wake of the lost power, unsure how their relationship would now change.
OOC: 562 words, Quest for learning Power Up

As he lay there, he felt Hachi rip his leg out of the hold, no doubt struggling to stand against the pain. Once again, a crunch shook the haze in which Ryder found himself, the sound of a joint being forced back into place, accompanied by a quiet, saddistic grunt. A grunt that carried far more weight and meaning to it than the young saiyan's innocent mind could comprehend.

"I'm... sorry Hachi..." he whisperred hoarsely, not certain he could be heard as Hachi urged him to never relent, to maintain the attack no matter what. ~Never relent... take victory by force. Resolve to win at any cost.~ He thought to himself, cementing the lesson in his mind. If he survived, Ryder would never forget that lesson, to latch onto a battle like a pitbull and never let go until victory was his.

Standing there, upright and held by Hachi's hand, Ryder found himself staring into those eyes, seeing the pain he had caused, the madness that had risen up in his big brother, a man who'd always been kind and loving, comforting and protective, even though he was a strict, harsh teacher. But now, now he'd become something else entirely. Just as Ryder had lost himself to the fury of battle, now too, was Hachi lost to the pain his little brother had given him.

It all started so fast. A powerful punch struck the shoulder that had been damaged earlier, exploding into the joint, shattering the bone and cartilage there in a burst of foggy blood that quicly crystalized. Pain. Shock. Cold. Suddenly it all hit him like a nuclear bomb. Ryder could do nothing but stare on as his loving protector was consumed by that madness, intentionally knocking his hip out of socket with a powerful kick, sending another massive surge of agony coursing through the boy, this one every bit as consuming as the first.

But no, that was not enough for him. Caught up in the madness that raged and danced like a fire in his usually placid eyes, Hachi proceeded to fire needle after needle after agonizing needle through him, joints, pressure points and nerve endings, you name it. One such needle even pierced clean through a lung, tearing a gash several inches wide and sending the Saiyan, already heavily wounded and fatigued into shock, his breathing growing faster and ever more shallow, as his life began to fade from him.

Before that rage subsided, however, there was yet one last strike of vengeance to be had. Hachi deliverred a massive kick to Ryder's spine, throwing four vertebra out of their slottings in the spinal column, and completely paralyzing Ryder from the bellybutton down. ~I'm... still here brother....~ He called to Hachi mentally when the other had at last stopped and realized what he had done. ~You... haven't killed me... my brother... thank you.... for treating me as an equal.~

From where he lay, Ryder could only listen as Hachi called out to someone named Ralph, fertively shouting for 'the namek to hurry up before his baby brother dies' and such, before abandoning the task and bending down to gently scoop Ryder into his arms. It was a strange sensation to the boy, almost as though he were floating in the air.

In and out he drifted of consciousness, drawn through a dark tunnel towards a light, each time pulled back from the brink by comforting words, a reassuring touch, a strange... warmth filling his body... In those dreams he saw a great many things. He saw himself growing stronger, even surpassing his brother and coming to be a protector for the older warrior. It was then that Ryder truly knew his place in this family. He was the child, but in time... it would be he who watched over Hachi, and kept him safe from those who would try do him harm.

"GASP!" came the words, as Ryder suddenly sat upright, feeling whole and himself once more, only to find him in a room he had not seen, accompanied by Hachi and a Namek.

OOC: 801 words

"Wait a minute, you want him to come with us on missions... out there!" Ryder exclaimed, waving a hand towards a wall hoping he was pointing outside and not deeper into the sauna building. "But he hates the cold, we can't force him out there, he might not survive."

"Young Ryder, you must understand, I despise the cold, my body hates it, but it causes me no pain nor harm, only discomfort. Surely I can withstand such mild conditions for the sake of your brother's cause. It's the least a weakling like me can do to try to make things better in the world."

Somehow, the smile across the young saiyan's face grew even brighter as he dragged himself up from where he sat, taking a propper seat on one of the benches, feeling the Sauna's hot dry air sooth his muscles. "I understand Raphael. It's a hard road he walks, I've only just recently begun to understand exactly what it is he has to go through. I'm glad to have you on our team."

With that out of the way, the boy nodded to his elder, appologizing for the interruption. "Sorry I interrupted Hachi, I was worried about him. Please continue, I won't interrupt again unless I have something to contribute, I promise." Listening intently, Ryder took careful mental note of the tactical positions they needed to take. Powerful adversaries, strong defensive redoubts, and in some cases powerful numbers were against them.

"Hachi? Are we sure we can handle all this already? There's only the two of us for fighting, and I have no idea how limited Raph's healing is. Putting somebody back together from the edge of death has got to be draining doesn't it? Come on, you don't think he can heal all day long do you?"

"Well Ryder..." began the namek, it's voice slow and deliberate, very polite and refined. "You see, there really isn't a limit to my healing abilities. If I heal to many times at a given time I'll need to rest, but it's not nearly as draining as you might suspect. Also, something interesting you may wish to hear, I am actually not a he. My race doesn't have genders, we're all the same. There are no males or females among Namekians, we are simply Namekians, and that is all."

At the mention of no genders Ryder's eyes just about buldged out of their sockets. "No girls? But... what do you do on valentines day? Oh wait... you guys probably don't do valentines day huh. Why do you hate the cold so much anyway Raph? Do the other namek's hate the cold?"

"I really cannot answer that question Ryder, I haven't spoken to any Namek's since I left my home planet. But since it's such a warm, lush place, the cold does not agree with me whatsoever. In fact, when I think of home, I tend to find myself longing to return again. To see my family and village once again, and to show them what I've become in my absense. And... of course... there are the dragon balls."

"Dragonballs?" Inquired the boy, ever the curious one. "Ah, I see you haven't heard of them. On my home planet namek, there are seven large golden orbs, called dragonballs. When all are gatherred together, one can use them to summon the great dragon Porunga, who will grant the gatherer three wishes of nearly anything he desires."

His concern over the campaign forgotten, Ryder leaned forward at the edge of the bench, listening with rapt attention. "They'll really grant any wish? Anything you could want?" He asked, excitement clear in his eyes at the thought of such an adventure. "Quite nearly young one. There are some rules, and limits to the dragons power, but there is a great deal that he can accomplish. In fact, I had hoped that once we had a respite from this campaign of your brother's that the three of us might be able to visit my home. Perhaps even gather the balls and make some wishes. But, enough about me Ryder, you've had a long, hard day, and deserve some rest."

Before the namek could more explicitly 'advise' that Ryder go to bed, he'd caught sight of the hot-tub at the far end of the building and made a beeline for it, peeling out of his clothes without any care or concern and leaping in, only thinking after he was inside how lucky he was it wasn't too hot. "So I'll rest and relax in here for a while. I'll come to bed I promise, just let me soak a while. Before you say, I know, it's icy out there, I'll make sure I'm completely dry before I leave, you can trust me Hachi."

With a long day behind him, Ryder laid back in the tub, relaxing and closing his eyes, imagining all that lay ahead of them. Conquest, over the violent demons and Changelings that had made this planet their home, to once again bring peace to the planet of Icer. And then, at some point in the future, once Icer had been given back hope, they might head off to the distant, exotic Namek. What wondrous creatures lived there? What would this "Porunga" dragon look like? Was it dangerous? So many unanswerred questions, and only one Saiyan boy to uncover them all.

~Mom, Dad, I hope your proud of me. I feel stronger and more alive than ever before. My life has meaning, I'm going to be helping people. I'm going to make you guys proud, and be the best Saiyan warrior I can be. Both the most powerful, and the most kind. Thanks for watching out for me from above, without you I doubt I would have found such good friends, or had someone like Hachi to raise me. I will not let him down. I'll defend him and aid him like I would you. Thank you.~ And with those words, the boy found his troubles melting away in the soft, smooth bubbling jets of the tub, at last at peace, and finally a man.

And in that peace, he found himself reaching back down into himself, seeking the black void that had served him for so long in battle. There was something... calling to him, something that he could not explain. When the black had been summoned, he found himself mentally staring into it's depths, scanning the darkness for that which called to him in his mind. A powerful, primal force, beckoning to him, offering promises of power if he would only yield to it.

Slowly, the form began to take shape, so massive that it completely filled his vision to the point he had to pull it back to see the entire creature. It was a massive monkey, with the powerful build of an ape, but the clearly defining monkey tail that marked him as a saiyan. And when he looked into it's eyes, he found himself staring into his own, masked with the purple-black lines of power that he had called to himself earlier that day.

"What... are you..." he asked aloud within his mind, uncertain if this was real or imagined. Those eyes, that gaze, they communicated more to him than words ever could. This... beast... this monstrosity was a part of him. It had vast power, and would fight for him, if only he would gaze at the upcoming full moon to release it's power.

But something else nagged at him, a pure, innocent, fatherly word of warning. All power comes with responsibility, and power not earned bears the greatest burden of all. This beast can give you power, but the cost will be great indeed. Please, son, do not use it except that you have no other choice, and even then, do not surrender. Never surrender Ryder, commit yourself to action. Take the ape by the tail my son, and never allow it to control you.

And so it was, that Ryder would come to know the beast that lurked within, to know both the power, and the price to be paid. When he came out of his mind, he was still sitting in the hot-tub, his fingers slightly wrinkled from the water, and his mind was racing, seeking answers that could only be found from experience. And experience would come like a maelstrom, for in the days that lie ahead wait more and even greater training than that which he had experienced today. No, they would not rest until this planet was cleansed of it's filth, and then, at last, they could go on to more peaceful endeavors. Planet Namek, the dragonballs, and, he was sure, the most beautiful trees he had ever seen awaited.

~Soon~ he promised himself in his mind. Soon all would be right in the world, and at long last there would finally be peace to be had, time to relax and enjoy all the simple pleasures of nature that he had come to love throughout his life. And all would be as it should

OOC: 1648 words

Added (02.25.2010, 3:23 Pm)
---------------------------------------------
OOC: total words from me this thread, 6,269.