Masters of the Otherworld [Cornatto/King Kai Training]

It had already been a little bit of time since Cornatto had managed to make his way through the Snake Way. One of the longest rides Corn had ever taken with his own feet, he knew he could have probably beaten it a lot faster in his Super Saiyan Two form and perhaps flying too, who knew-- even gotten there instantly but he was pretty much fine with a little bit of fun. He thought that it didn’t matter since he was dead, he had a whole eternity to take the Snake Way on but he still did it in a pretty impressive time if it was truly supposed to be one million kilometers.

He didn’t know many humans that would be up to running that distance. It was all a matter of effort and all and Cornatto had gotten all excited even before he was taken to the Snake Way by the words of Queen Aka. Whoever Kaio-sama was, he was supposed to be a great deal and he couldn’t wait to finally get some training. The Snake Way was clear and quite easy for him to get to his destination. Although at first he couldn’t quite target the place, he noticed the little planet not too shortly after as his eyes wondered what that black dot in the sky could be and finally, he had arrived at destination.

As soon as he had arrived, though, he was not welcomed by Kaio-sama but straight out from a ghost of the past; a Z-Fighter, also known as Yamcha. He was pretty sure of himself and Cornatto sort of knew who he was supposed to be; Karota usually talked about him as the creator of the Wolf School. He was sure that he had to be a fantastic martial artist back in his days as he was quite strong when he had fought him, but he was admittedly also truly quite difficult to handle when he used that Kaioken skill. He guessed that it had something to do with Kaio-sama, since there was his name itself in the technique’s name.

He hadn’t ever seen that technique before, but it had seemed to be capable of powering your ki up by many times fold. Not to mention the fact that Yamcha himself was already quite a powerful opponent, he could even face a Super Saiyan Two without too much trouble-- the warriors of old were truly incredible! The only ‘olds’ he could have ever considered were people like Natto and Tomo since they were technically part of a different generation than the one that actually lived their days in the living world. But they were surely not that old to be considered as ancient as Yamcha was supposed to be. Then again, he didn’t look old, so he had been dead for a great deal of time.

Cornatto had just died but he had also lived for quite a little bit-- he didn’t consider himself to be old but he had been through some stuff! No one could say that Cornatto was old just by his looks, one really had to know him for his previous rank of a Major or ask him directly. For the rest, he looked just as strong and young as he did when he was twenty. He did get a little more mature, though, that was for sure. Years did still weigh on his shoulders, not as actual old age, but with his long, fierce history of combat and people he had met. Most of them had stuck with him for a while, some others disappeared and he hadn’t ever met them again. Sad? Maybe, but again, most people decided their own path and Corn took the one that led him with the Alliance and it was one of the best decisions he had ever made, in his opinion.

It was true, though, that perhaps what Karota had told him pierced through him back in the North. He didn’t really dwell on it too much, but honestly? He didn’t know if he had actually made a good choice to leave the Alliance out of nowhere without even staying around for a short while, maybe to check up on what would have happened from there on or help with the rebuilding efforts. Etorin? He could have probably destroyed him in no time with his Super Saiyan power, no matter how many hostages he took, Cornatto was confident in his powers and felt sorry for what he did. But, on the other hand, his daughter had become quite strong! He was quite proud of her and hoped that she could arrange herself now that he had died, but now what he was mostly centered on… were huge bowls of food! Thankfully Kaio-sama actually had food around here and plenty enough of it to fill his Saiyan stomach, it was pretty good, not like the clouds weren’t that good, but he sure preferred actual food!

He didn’t even eat normally; he shoved in his mouth as much as food as he could and gulped it down. Saiyan style! The rings of the bowls echoed in the room as he emptied one meal after another at the speed of light until nothing was left. He leaned back and patted his stomach, flashing a huge smile on his face. “Man… I needed this! Haha, I’m full!”

The man’s exclamation was followed by a small observation; he felt Galen’s aura closer and closer until he realized that he had finally arrived on the planet. Thus he got up from his seat and walked out of the little house as he looked around finally noticed his Earthling friend. The Earthling Saiyan chuckled a bit and walked up to him, he crouched and held a hand towards him.

“Yo, Galen! Haha, great to have you here, bud! Here, take my hand. I know it’s a little difficult at first here, but you’ll get used to it. I am sure you will!”

As usual, Cornatto was a few steps ahead of Galen in regarding to training and he was used to gravity training. On top of that, as he had read during his days on Korin’s Tower, even the saiyan’s planet had a greater gravity than Earth, so it was only natural this small planet wouldn’t be affecting him quite as much, still, the Turtle Hermit tried to give him some solace by saying he would get used to it in no time and he just nodded, though not as confident as he should be. Still, when Cornatto apologized for not being there to fight Jarvis, he shook his head, sighing deeply. ”You couldn’t know. And we had plenty of allies when the fighting started. Chris was there, and so was Flare. But they decided to leave Caesar and Shizen to the two of us and unfortunately we weren’t enough. I managed to defeat Shizen, I tried to protect her like I had promised Flare and when I thought she was safe, that monster sucked her body into his own, and stole her life away…” and as he said that, a couple of tears came down his face as true sadness and frustration took over his heart.

”I… I couldn’t save her…” and that thought haunted him, because not only Flare asked him that, but also Shizen. She was begging for help, and yet he failed her. But as they were speaking, another person appeared out of nowhere and Galen’s watered eyes glanced towards her. He didn’t know her, but just like them, she had a halo above her head, meaning she was dead. And because of her tail, he knew right on the spot that she was a saiyan and, apparently, she was speaking to Galen.

”Uhn?” he looked a bit clueless at first, but then she began speaking, saying his fight was unfair and lopsided and that he gave Jarvis exactly what he wanted. Those words hit him like a truck and Galen lowered his eyes, staring now at the grassy fields of the tiny planet. Tears kept rolling down his face and he was now sobbing. But when she said the planet survived, he suddenly stopped and stared back at her, gulping. ”E-earth survived?! Y-you mean Master Jie too, Miss?” he politely yet anxiously asked her.

Oddly enough she and Cornatto seemed to be long time acquaintances, but Galen was quite surprised and clueless now. ”J-just… Who are you ma’am?” he bluntly asked.

Despite Cornatto’s reassuring comments, it didn’t seem like Galen was willing to take them all but instead, he still felt he was always quite disappointed with what had happened; which, by all means, it was apparently normal, but Corn didn’t like to dwell too much on those things. Whatever had happened it couldn’t just get in the way of one’s future, but maybe it was just the Earthling Saiyan who was a little tad too carefree compared to Galen. Nonetheless, he meant it when he was sure that he would have mastered this level of gravity; it wasn’t way too tricky, Cornatto also was a little amused at it, but he had been on Planet Natto and Vegeta before. A level of gravity that low was completely normal to him-- maybe he just had a little trouble at first considering how long he had been on Earth, but it was no trouble for Corn any longer.

On the other hand, Earth didn’t possess such strong gravity, that was why Cornatto usually felt like a feather floating in the sky on the blue marble; and if one were to dare and go beyond a hundred times gravity, they’d probably feel even better. But there was no use if they had no power to use alongside speed, nor did reflexes come naturally with speed. Galen surely had the potential to become stronger than that and master whatever level of gravity he could have reached, he was sure about it.

Although at the moment, Galen was taken over by his grief and displayed his pure earthling emotions. They were strong, and Cornatto listened to him silently, both to let him let all of it out and also to grasp a better understanding of what had unfolded previously on Earth. As much as he quietly nodded while Galen spoke, he legit had no idea of who was most of the people he mentioned. Chris, Flare, and Shizen? Who were they? The Saiyan only knew about Caesar because he had heard about him and how he blew up both the Outpost and Natto, too. For the rest, he guessed they were supposed to be good guys since he hinted at them as allies, but then they left both Galen and Jie against someone stronger than what they could chew. The man frowned a little about that.

He couldn’t see sense in leaving two of them with someone that strong, perhaps things could have gone better if they didn’t leave them against Caesar. The man gritted his teeth at the sight of his friend spilling tears, maybe Cornatto hadn’t been there or witnessed the tragedy himself, but that alone was one more frustration. Just like it had happened to Natto, he couldn’t be there for South City, and now, Galen’s emotions had begun to reach the Turtle Hermit, too.

“He will pay for everything he has done. I swear he will,” - said the man with a slight hint of anger in his heart, but he couldn’t help but also remark a little about the last part of his speech; the whole ‘sucking bodies’ stuff. As a first, Cornatto thought it was pretty gross, what even was that supposed to mean? The Saiyan knew nothing about fusion, and there was no way he’d even know that such a thing was possible. But then such trail of thought was interrupted by the appearance of Tomoroko, who had thankfully managed to at least bend the subject ever so slightly and left Cornatto with a sense of joy for finally meeting one of his old friends once more.

The man smirked a little at Tomo's joke. He was aware of his age, but he didn’t think of himself as an old person! Saiyan genetics were pretty useful, although Tomoroko’s youth was a given mostly because of how long she had been dead for, not much for her genetics. But that would mean, that if she were to come back to life, she would still live longer than other Saiyans; her body would always be the one Tomo possessed when she died back on Vegeta. Then if you added her genetics to that, and she could technically live for a little while even if she were revived. Then again, as long as she was dead, she was technically immortal. Unless ghosts got old at a certain point? No idea.

“Haha, come on. I am not that old! We both still look young, you know!”

Cornatto’s mood didn’t exactly go down but it was indeed filled with a little seed of curiosity when Tomoroko’s seemed to sadden at the mention of Natto, and for some reason, her reply hinted that he wouldn’t be around here ‘ever again.' The first thing Corn could think of was that perhaps there was something more if you died again in the afterlife? Was there a second afterlife? He didn’t know, but it didn’t sound like something the two should have discussed at the moment; both for Tomoroko’s sake and Galen’s, who was already disappointed by his performance on Earth and he didn’t want to make the whole matter any worse.

"Huh... well, alright! I am happy to see that at least you are around, though."

However, the female Saiyan gave both of them the slightest hope that Earth and possibly Kami-sama were still alive, so that was one weight off their shoulder-- especially Galen’s. Cornatto had always believed that Earth would have managed to stay alive, so he hadn’t been way too worried about Earth itself but more in regards to his daughter Kabocha, other than that, though, he was glad to see Galen’s amusement at the news. He was sure at least that would have perhaps livened up his mood a bit.

The Earthling Saiyan looked at Tomo once more at the mention of a ‘Kaioshin,' evidently confused that there were more people with ‘Kaio’ in their names. “Kaioshin? Huh, who’s that? I might have seen him if they’re on Earth.”

The woman suddenly offered to give a ‘head start’ to their training and there, Cornatto immediately reacted as he flashed a warrior’s smirk towards her way. “If all your jokes are about my age, no wonder, but,” - he paused for a brief moment before he switched into his fighting stance. “I’m all for it! Let’s fight!”

Cornatto was indeed a bit disappointed that Natto wasn’t around as he wished to fight him the most, but he was also happy to see Tomo and excited to battle her! By what he remembered, she was also about as reliable as her deceased mate, and the Earthling Saiyan wanted to see on what level he stood against Tomoroko.

Tomo seemed to dislike the formal behavior of Galen, but many people felt a bit uncomfortable with his way, but he didn’t mind at all; he just chuckled when she mentioned that she wasn’t the Kaioshin herself. Then she explained that even though she was supposed to be quite powerful in the past, she somehow lost part of her power and could no longer ascend to what they called super saiyan two. ”The one with lightning I believe.” he thought to himself in the privacy of his own mind: it was kind of tricky to keep up with all their transformations especially because most of them were blond and with golden auras.

”Let’s do our bests!” he replied to Tomoroko with a kind smile on his face. Cornatto on the other hand seemed a bit disappointed he wouldn’t get to fight against a Super Saiyan Three and Galen arched one of his eyebrows. ”And that must be the long haired brow less one…” he took a mental note to himself as Cornatto said that the two of them could probably pose a challenge, even though he would be limiting himself to his normal super saiyan form, which already had a freaking impressive power. Galen exhaled sharply as he saw the form and then closed his eyes for a moment.

”I won’t be holding back Master, and I apologize in advance for my behavior. This transformation messes with my emotions quite a lot.” he said, and then, by clenching both of his fists, he exploded in a bright fuchsia aura. His hair bristled and spiked, making his bandana fly away and fall to the grassy terrain of the tiny planet. His body, much akin to his aura, became fuchsia in color, and Galen’s normal gentle feature became that of pure anger.

[Super High Tension. PL: 3,948,140]

”Now I’m REALLY MAD!” he exclaimed with fury in his tone. Without waiting as much of a millisecond, Galen darted toward Cornatto with all of his available speed. His right fist was glowing with his ki energy gathering there in a very familiar way. ”Take that!! SUPER GOD FIST!!!” he roared as he aimed to throw the powerful haymaker to Cornatto’s face.

Galen started with all his power, without wasting any time and already using the powerful techniques of the Turtle Style. And while it could be an action deemed as reckless by some, he was pushing Cornatto and giving Tomoroko time to analyze his movements and try to see a breach in his defenses. Galen was acting like a sacrifice and even though he was furious due to his form, he was still true to who he really was: a gentle protector who wouldn’t blink before putting himself on the line of fire for others.

That was the intensity of his resolve, burning like fire.

“Hehe! Sorry, Tomo! I didn’t mean it. You’re not weak, though, you are still quite strong, the thing is-- you could be even stronger,” - said the man as he returned her act with a sharp smirk over his face. He still thought quite highly of Tomoroko nonetheless, she still possessed remarkable strength and the two still had a pretty nice friendship back in the days, so he had no reasons to actually make fun of her current power. He quirked an eyebrow a little at her offer but he quickly nodded his head and offered a wide smile.

“Sure thing! But do not expect me to go easy on you. I’ll make you anew, Tomoroko!”

The Earthling Saiyan smirked, he knew that he could probably help Tomo with her strength; she was still a Saiyan, and most of their races had a pretty good potential and were also quick to learn. Not to mention the fact that she had already tapped into power higher than her own so it should have been easy all things considered. But Tomo wasn’t going to be the only one he’d help, Galen too! The two had left their training a little because of certain circumstances, but he was looking forward to finishing his practice in the Turtle School. They were dead, so they had all the time they needed.

“The same goes for you, Galen! We’ll use our time here and get even stronger-- I will make sure to finish your training in the Turtle School. I know you use a sword, but I hope you haven’t been slacking off with your fists! You’ll need those,” - he told him.

Cornatto could also relate with the whole formal behavior thing; it wasn’t something that he had in his Saiyan blood; he was a lot more carefree and perhaps friendlier than Corn should have, but Corn sure knew when to be serious when he had to be. However, he had to say that being formal wasn’t a bad thing, it was just how some people were, although it was difficult to find formal Saiyans, he guessed that it was a more recurring thing in the Human race rather than the warrior race that was primarily made up of fighters. It was challenging to find anyone like Cornatto around, although he did recall seeing a few Super Saiyans on their side back on Earth, maybe he hadn’t just been too attentive at the moment to realize, though, he was pretty much focused over Karota and Miso.

The two had somehow managed to make him snap a little, although most of his interests in the couple had nothing to do with killing, he merely wished to fight them and pretty much stop them, he couldn’t arrange that because of how their duel was interrupted. A real shame. Cornatto would have certainly liked that as far as sparring Natto and his mate. He couldn’t know what had happened to Natto, but it seemed to be-- perhaps not too overly dangerous, but in a few words, he was no longer there, in the Afterlife.

The best scenario would have been that he had indeed revived and was out there, in the living world. But he doubted it. The Turtle Hermit would have sensed his power, probably, no matter how far or on what planet, not to mention the fact that he was pretty sure that Tomo would have followed him back to the living realm but she was still there, standing with the other two fighters. In a sense, he guessed that it might have been more complicated than what he had thought, but right, it wasn’t indeed the time to concern Tomoroko with that! Not to mention, Cornatto had his training to worry about, Corn was quite curious as to why Kaio-sama hadn’t even come to check up on them just yet. He guessed he was busy with something or whatever because it was indeed weird that he hadn’t come out as of yet, even after Cornatto had just turned into a Super Saiyan.

Undoubtedly, Cornatto’s power as a Super Saiyan was quite astonishing despite it being only the first form of the legendary warrior, but it was still nowhere enough in his opinion. To Cornatto, to become stronger was one of his desires and goal, perhaps it was a little bit too much like any other Saiyan, but you couldn’t certainly blame him for being what he was; a Saiyan, but still an Earthling with a kind heart. Similarly to Galen, he guessed, but the Human was a lot more like any other Human would be other than the fact that he was pure-hearted while Cornatto was still a Saiyan and leaned towards fighting which was quite a different motivation compared to Galen’s.

Not to mention the fact that the Super Saiyan form itself was a transformation that induced anger and tainted a Saiyan’s heart, no matter how pure it could be, although the fact that it wasn’t that bad. Cornatto could easily control himself once he mastered its full power, plus, the Super Saiyan Two transformation had revealed itself to be more challenging to learn but not impossible at all.

The Super Saiyan forms weren’t that different in appearance, either. The ascended stage of the Super Saiyan level was far more powerful than its previous transformation but it wasn’t all that various other than the hairstyle which was a tad different but not that much; it was golden and spiky, just far more spikier than the first level. The Super Saiyan Three was a form he had never experienced before but he had seen it before and it was a form that surpassed the Saiyan that already goes beyond the regular Super Saiyan, it was kind of complex, but in a few words; it was beyond any other transformation he had ever seen. Maybe other than the Super Saiyan Four which was also entirely different given that it made the Saiyan look a lot more like a Great Ape but in a humanoid form. Although it was also quite powerful but Cornatto had no idea as to how he could even achieve such form-- and no wonder he didn’t-- he didn’t even possess a tail.

The Super Saiyan Four required a tail overall to be achieved so that it could absorb the Blutz Waves and somehow trigger a transformation higher than the ordinary Oozaru and into a giant, golden monkey that would then turn into the Super Saiyan Four. A Saiyan that possessed the traits of a great ape but the body of a humanoid. None of these details were known to Cornatto, although, even if he did, it wasn’t like he could have also tried anyway.

He would have needed to wish for a tail with the Dragon Balls or something like that, but he wondered if the Super Saiyan Four indeed was the last achievement a Saiyan could hope for; he was sure that their limits were endless and that by no means they’d stop at such a transformation. Just like how none of the other Saiyan forms required a tail, there must have been a way to get around that requirement or perhaps achieve a greater power than the one of a monkey.

The Human soon apologized to the Turtle Hermit, something which he didn’t immediately understand until Galen transformed and much to Cornatto’s surprise, his form reminded him a lot of the Super Saiyan form itself aside from its purple aura. It was indeed quite similar, even the hairstyle resembled one of the Saiyan warriors shortly after they turned into a Super Saiyan, but it was indeed quite amusing.

Cornatto didn’t even think that humans were capable of achieving a transformation, or so Galen called it; he had to say, though, the ki was quite incredible. It wasn’t on par with the Saiyan’s, but it was remarkable. He was quite sure that Galen was the most reliable human on Earth, now, that far at least, the Turtle Hermit had met no one else that ever confirmed the opposite. At the least, Tomo couldn’t be blamed for her shock at the human’s power exceeding the Saiyan woman's he was indeed skilled and also had potential.

“Hah, now… Don’t you just look like a Super Saiyan now? Amazing! How do you call that transformation?” - he inquired curiously with a hint of interest in his eyes as he glanced at Galen. “Super Human? Or is that too obvious?”

The Earthling Saiyan shot a glance at Tomo as she complimented him and left the male with a wide smirk on his face, he was glad and proud of hearing those words! Tomo was weak now, but she used to be a lot stronger and hearing that from her was worth it.

“I still have a long way to go, too! I don’t plan on stopping here either. I will reach the Super Saiyan Three transformation!”

Galen then suddenly burst into a fit of anger that surprised Cornatto. It wasn’t evidently the human just overdoing it; the boy looked quite angry, and while he didn’t mean it, Cornatto wondered whether it was like the whole Super Saiyan thing where you were always mad at first, or it could be controlled. As far as he was concerned, Corn had never seen a Human to perform such a transformation, but it didn’t look like Galen was precisely the most relaxed at the moment.

On the other hand, the dark-haired man looked quite careless as usual with a faint smile over his Super Saiyan face as he watched Galen to dolt and charge towards the Saiyan. Cornatto’s brow furrowed and his expression tightened, he pressed his teeth together and prepared himself for what Galen was carrying along with him; the Super God Fist, one of the Turtle School’s moves.

Cornatto’s watchful eye glared at the Human as he got way too close in such a short time with hs newfound speed. However, it was no trouble for the Super Saiyan to read his movement and move away-- his frame leaned to the side as he plainly dodged it with a smile on his face. “Haha, it seems you have not forgotten our training at least-- good! But now,” - he paused his speech briefly as he sensed Tomoroko who had charged together with Galen and focused her energy in an attempt to connect a hit.

“In that case!” - exclaimed the man as he bent his back and pushed himself forth, beneath Galen’s arm as he brought his arm back and quickly imbued it with an energy he planned to strike back at Tomo’s technique with a fist of his own. “This is how you do it! SUPER GOD FIST! HAAAHH!!!” - Cornatto charged forth and aimed to clash powers with Tomoroko.