Until Dusk (Solo/Paprika Wasteland)

After sleeping for almost a whole day, Nasu started waking up. It was the middle of the afternoon of the following day after his first weighted training, and he could feel all his body being sore as hell. ”Dammit! I feel like shit… All my limbs are still burning and it hurts to breathe… I don’t feel much more powerful at all, but I guess it’s because I haven’t recovered yet…” he thought to himself, sighing deeply as he made a huge effort to try and get back up. All he could do for the moment was to sit, however. He stared at the surroundings as he remained there, under the weird rocky mushroom’s shadow and, after a couple seconds, his belly roared like a rampaging beast, reminding him that he was supposed to be eating by now. The young saiyan gulped with that thought and that action alone made his throat hurt; it was dry and he was beginning do dehydrate and he had to do something about it urgently. ”Well, damn… Where will I find water on this area? I know a water source near my cave, but I’m far from it now…” he thought to himself, touching his chin with his forefinger and thumb, scratching it for a moment as he tried to decide what to do.

”No point on thinking any further… I’ve got to get something to drink and to eat..” he decided, nodding to himself. ”I’m done with stupid training for today… Had enough of this… I promise to get back on this crazy training tomorrow…” he was determined not to train on this day, but he couldn’t be more wrong, as fate would help him on his path toward power, even though he was unwilling to do it. Nasu was sort of lazy with training, and even though he had been all fired up with determination the previous day, such determination was quick to vanish whenever he felt in pain or something like that. It was a terrible trait that he didn’t inherit from his parents. Maybe his pride was also one of the reasons he wasn’t nearly as strong as them or other saiyans who managed to tap into the legendary golden hue of their fantastic genetics. That thought bothered him, but he needed more maturity to fully change and something like that takes a lot of time.

With some extra effort, he got back on his feet and started walking across Paprika Wasteland. He was searching for water, and he thought that the best way to do that was by scanning the area for life. ”Come on… I know most of you bugs are weak, but there should be someone with at least a minimal amount of power so that I can detect…” he thought to himself as his scouter scanned the area, beeping every now and then. Nasu shrugged when it found nothing and continued to walk and scan. After about fifteen minutes he was already getting angry due to his frustration and swearing a lot on his mind. He reaffirmed his hatred for Planet Earth and for the first time in a very long time, he wanted to cry and go back to the comfort he had in Planet Natto. ”I wonder how is uncle Miso doing… Who is in charge of the Alliance now? If it was a decision based on power alone, then uncle would most certainly become the Overseer, but the counsel is composed of stupid peace-loving fools… Uncle Miso is too ruthless for their taste, but maybe he managed to get into the counsel… I remember there were talks about it back then…” his mind drifted on his past as he continued his path. ”Is Koko still alive? I wonder where that annoying bitch is… I would like to beat the shit out of her for humiliating me, but damn, she is a freaking super saiyan… I can’t even dream of defeating her… I’m not even close to tap into such power to be completely honest…” the thought left a bitter taste on his mouth as he finally looked upon himself: walking the desert, to tired and to bored to train. Shame. That was the feeling he had inside his heart right now and that made his eyes water quite a lot. Nasu didn’t even have the strength to hold in his tears anymore and with that crushing sadness, he felt to his knees, tears running down his face.

– I don’t want to be weak… But I hate this stupid trainings all the time… I prefer battle… But I will die if I challenge the people I want to kill… This universe is so unfair! Mom, dad, how did you two make it?! You were both middle class warriors… And became such legends… I was born an elite, and I can’t even compare to the dust beneath your feet… - he was now weeping, shedding countless tears and with those tears came the anger. Nasu clenched his fists with all his strength to the point that his hands started bleeding and he tore open parts of his white gloves that were now painted in red. He grits his teeth intensely and punched the ground, creating a large crater on it and making a huge noise. He then pounded it with both fists over and over again, enlarging the crater and cracking the ground around the crater. While he did that, he roared to himself. – WHY?! WHY?! I DON’T WANT THIS ANYMORE! I WANT MY REVENGE!!! I WANT… I WANT MY PARENTS BACK!! I WANT TO BE STRONG… AND I NEED THAT POWER!!! WHY AM I NOT BLESSES LIKE THEY WERE?! – all his frustration, fear and desires were out, but luckily there was no one around to hear, to get to know his weaker more sentimental side. But even thought there was nobody who could understand him, his loud words attracted the attention of a creature nearby.

Nasu’s scouter beeped detecting a power level of 1,200 that was quite huge for a regular human, but he barely noticed it at first, as he kept on pounding the ground and complaining about his miserable life. The sound of heavy footsteps along with the constant beeping of the scouter finally attracted his attention and he looked towards the direction the gadget indicated only to see an enormous dinosaur heading his way with a starving look on its face. Nasu arched both his eyebrows when he saw the beast. He wasn’t surprised as he was used to hunt them for food, and maybe that arrogance made him forget he was wearing his weighted battle suit and that he was nearly dehydrated and starving too. He got back on his feet at stared at the beast, clenching his right fist. – Stupid beast! Thinking I’m your pray! You will pay for this insolence with your life!! – he growled and, when he tried to change towards the creature, his legs failed him, and he lost his balance, stumbling on his own feet. – What?! – he was startled by his own body’s limitation and the dinosaur seized such opportunity to land a powerful tail whip on Nasu’s chest, sending him flying, sailing through the air adrift, screaming in pain for the impact. The damage of the tail whip wasn’t very high, but his body was at the point of breaking down and right now even that dinosaur posed a threat that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

When Nasu fell back to the ground, the dinosaur was already there to bite him. He growled again, gritting his teeth even more and delivered a punch to the beast’s face. The punch that once killed those beasts in the blink of an eye now did nothing but push it away a little bit and enrage the creature. ”Fuck this shit! I’m too weak now!!! I can’t believe this annoying creature is putting my life at risk!” he was enraged by his own thoughts and had to quickly take a back flip to avoid being crashed by the creature’s paw, that left a small crater on the ground and cracked it. – Stupid monster!!! You will pay! – his rage was fueling his determination and making his mind forget a little bit of all his tiredness and weakness. His rage allowed him to flare his ghostly-white ki aura around his body and push him in a small flight towards the dinosaur. Nasu stroke it with an elbow attack to the face, sending him flying away and falling to the ground with his back, but the dinosaur recovered quickly with nothing but a few broken fangs and an even greater rage.

The young saiyan landed on the ground and stared at the beast with a serious expression. His warrior soul was waking up and analyzing the situation. ”My energy reserves are too low… I can’t fire ki blasts and I will have to rely solely on my melee attacks… I can’t stand his weight on top of this weighted armor… So I have two options: I can either take it off and quickly finish this beast, or I can use this opportunity as an incredible good training with a sparring partner that I can both kill, and that can cause enough trouble to push me over my limits… Maybe fate is smiling upon me on its own terms… Let’s see…” his mind was racing like crazy and he stood still while the beast charged towards him, aiming to bite his head off. Nasu waited as much as he could, using one of the principles taught to him by his father, the Go no Sen, that was an integral part of the Soy School of the Saiyan Alliance. ”I should have paid more attention to that martial arts training…” but there was no use crying over spilled milk; his mind was doing his best to remember what he had learned. The Go no Sen teaches people that whenever a warrior takes the initiative in a fight after the opponent has already started an attack, he can perform his technique with perfect momentum. In order words, once the warrior starts to attack, the defending warrior can then seize the opportunity and deliver his own attack.

Obviously the concept of Go no Sen can take various forms depending on the use of the energy and momentum of the attacker. It can become a counter attack by deflecting one’s attack and responding, or a quick subtle dodge followed by the attack. Therefore, is not just a way to counter-attack, but also a mental state with a deep level of concentration to be assumed during combat. It’s the ultimate armonization with the very movement of attack, not just defense.

On this specific situation, Nasu waited the dinosaur to approach and deliver his bite, waiting for the final moment, the movement where he couldn’t change his movement or attack, and once that was made, the young saiyan warrior used that strength to avoid the attack by quickly side stepping, not opposing the attack but rather making it go to one side while he moved the other. He did capture the move at the right moment and now the enemy was wide open to his attack. The perfect harmony of combat, even between enemies was the beauty of martial arts, since, if there was a shock and loss of strength for both, all of them would be losing and wasting their energies. Anyway, the dinosaur had crashed his head on the ground and now was feeling all dizy. Harvesting all of his remaining strength and Ki energy, Nasu’s fist flowed in a light blue hue and he punched the dinosaur right on the neck, breaking it and ultimately killing the creature. The impact of the punch made it fly away towards a stone cliff nearby and the heavy body of the beast broke it. Nasu panted heavily after that, as he had used all of his strength to create that momentum.

He was, however, proud of himself for accomplishing that, and smiled a little bit. ”Father… Even upon death you can still help me… I will train harder, I promise… But, right now, I’ve got nothing left inside of me… Just… So… Thirsty…” he said inside his mind. But seems like the gods of the universe were in his favor on this very day, because on the very cliff the body of the dinosaur landed, there was a hidden source of water, a small pond with just enough fresh water so that he could rehydrate himself. Nasu couldn’t even believe his eyes when he stared at the fountain of water, and they widened and his brows arched a lot. – Water?! It’s water!! – he exclaimed and immediately after that he started running towards the fountain of water, jumping inside of it and laughing like a little kid when receiving a nice present. He drank it and refreshed his body from the heat of the wasteland. Nasu didn’t stay for too long inside the pond because he was also starving and right now he had an amazing amount of food available from the dinosaur’s body.

Once he rehydrated himself, he quickly lit a bonfire with his ki energy – the water allowed him to recover a lot of his former strength – and he started roasting the meat of the dinosaur that he violently ripped from the dead body. He didn’t roast it for long, as he liked the bleeding meat of his pray and he literally devoured the whole beast; he was a saiyan after all, he could eat like a small army of humans without any problems for his body and metabolism. When he finished, he felt completely recovered and that made him chuckle. – Now I do feel more powerful… Hehehe! How about we test it?! – he decided and then he walked outside of the broken cliff and it was already dusk. He stared at the setting sun, paiting the skies crimson like his home planet and he felt good, almost as if his father had been looking after him for his little training journey. – Father… Let’s see how much stronger I am now… - he said to Natto, even though he was not there.

The young saiyan warrior started charging blue energy onto his right fist and it began to glow with a fiery-like energy. By that time he could already feel like the power was far greater than his regular technique, and that thrilled him. ”I can feel the power!” he thought to himself. Then, he quickly charged forward, punching the air with a fierce strength and then fired a blue-colored powerful energy wave that hit and vaporized a whole stone cliff nearby, leaving nothing but a crater. – This is it! Super Tyrant Lancer!! – he roared in pride as he fired his energy attack. His power was indeed increasing and therefore he could tap into even stronger techniques, as they began to evolve. The Super Tyrant Lancer was also a technique from his father Natto, that up until this very dusk, he could only replicate in a far simplified manner. ”I did it! Father… I’m beginning to be able to follow into your footsteps… And right now I made a decision! I will start studying the principles of the Soy School and one day I will become its master! Mark my words!” with that promise made, the young saiyan flew again, heading back to his cavern, where he would finally have a proper rest without the weighted battle suit.

But tomorrow his training would continue, as he had found on these past two days the motivation he needed. He still had a lot to mature, but he would someday get there.