King for a day, Nam and Zach gravity training

[Zach]

Zach’s morning was like most had been since he took up residence on the lookout, waking at mid morning, dining on a high protein breakfast of mostly eggs, some toast and applesauce. Then he was out to the large, open platform to train. He wasn’t sure what the others were up to exactly and didn’t want to trouble himself with it, all he wanted to do was gain strength, hone his skill and prepare himself to destroy that monster that had nearly killed him.

Out on the huge tiled floor, Zach had warmed up with some pushups, followed by sit-ups and finally some squats to loosen up his legs. He then began his training routine with the usual shadow boxing, throwing lightning fast barrages of punches at an invisible foe. Kami’s attention had been elsewhere lately, leaving Zach alone and truthfully starting to feel a little forgotten. Still at least he had somewhere to stay and a place to train. And train he did, Zach kept up his shadow boxing for a good half hour, working up a fine sweat over his half clothed body. When he’d finally gotten the burn he wanted, Zach stopped and took a break, laying down in the sun with his arms folded up behind his head.

Laying there breathing heavily, Zach was actually surprised at how much faster he’d achieved his desired state then usual. It appeared his new, weighted clothing was performing as advertized. What was better, it looked almost exactly like his old, burned pants and boots. The boots were the same shade of red but were a better fit then his old ones, and let’s face it, didn’t smell like they were two years old. His new black pants fit tighter around the waist then his old ones and needed no belt. He even had a new set of wrist bands and had managed to talk the seamstress at the school into taking the weighting material from the gi that had some with the set and weaving all of it into the bands. The result was that the two simple wrist bands weighed as much as the gi would have. Together, Zach had one of the heaviest sets of weighted clothing the school store had ever sold, and was quite happy about it too.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam flew up what remained of the Lookout, following the stairs closely. He didn’t have any particular reason to do it, he just felt like doing it. The half-saiyan was returning after going out to find some new clothes, since his old clothes were totally wrecked and burned out. He didn’t get any clothes though, he got weighted clothing; only his limbs though. He would be in trouble if he had to fight a life and death situation while being suppressed by his clothes and keeping them limited to the limbs was an easy way to remove them.

He wore his usual black martial arts clothing with the Victory School’s emblem emblazoned. He had to go all the way to Mount Paozu to get it. But underneath he wore a red undershirt, which was heavy; followed by red wrist bands and his black boots, which were all heavy. It almost felt heavier than when he had the ruby medallion and his power level would probably seem lower than it really is. –lowering it to more than half. Strapped on his back was his scabbard as usual; nothing changed there, except the fact that Nam hadn’t forgotten about it this time.

Reaching the edge, Nam rose to the sky. Anyone who looked up would only see his silhouette in the sun, but he was sparkling and he felt great. He had been testing his new found strength and it barely took him a few minutes to fly up and down Korin’s Tower. It used to take a decade the first time he did it. His long hair was combed backwards as usual, and it would take the form of waves, like in the ocean. That single strand always dancing and fringed on his face, ending just below his lower lip, but it was midair as Nam was falling onto the tiles floors of the polished Lookout; finally resting on his face like customary. Nam scanned the area, there didn’t seem to be anyone in sight, except…

“Zach?” his eyes detected an object below his peripheral vision. Not only that, but although he was not sensing for power levels, somehow he still felt the presence of something nearby. It was as if his body was alerting him to not move forward, or else he’d trip on something. Nam smiled down to his friend, watching him resting on the floor. He was shirtless as usual. Only if he’d seen Nam copy his look a few hours ago, but he was too busy sleeping. Zach seemed to have been sweating a little and Nam doubted it was from the sun, which Nam was now blocking with his body as he cast his shadow over his blond friend.

[Zach]

Still relaxing peacefully before planning to start another bout of training, Zach ‘s eyes were closed. Given his deafness to the energy signatures of others, it was only natural that he didn’t notice Nam’s approach until the other boy blocked the sun overhead. The red blur formed from the sunlight trying to get through his eyelids changed to black and prompted Zach to look up. Above he couldn’t quite make out who was hovering over him but knew it to be a man by the shape of him. It was actually rather ominous that a figure would float silently above him in complete silhouette with the sun and Zach probably should have been on his guard. But it took a lot to scare or even worry the boy so he remained as he was, relaxed, arms spread wide and staring up with a confident sneer as if who ever that was could never hurt him, even in his terribly vulnerable position.

“Who is that up there?” Zach asked is as nonthreatening a manner as he could. “Can’t you see I’m catching some rays? Just move a bit to the side if you really want to just hover around, could you?”

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam tried to keep himself from laughing when he realized his blond friend hadn’t recognized him. He considered that in his position he was only a black figure, so he walked to the side as to unblock the sun and face him directly. The tapping of his boots stopped as he did and turned to face the man lying down. “Sorry… didn’t realize you were into sun bathing now… Trying to get some color into that white ass?” Nam smirked. From his position it should have been clear who he was by now.

Nam’s eyes were narrowed, he didn’t like the feeling it left on him and tried to straighten his face, but it was inevitable. If he did, his eyes would fry and damaged his sight. His face was starting to get that burning numb feeling you get when you squint your eyes for too long. Nam turned to the side, against the sun and loosened his face. “It’s been a while…”

Nam had been noticing something for quite some time, but he wasn’t about to point it out. Although Zach seemed to have completely recovered from his wounds, somehow, the power he was emitting was weaker than last time Nam saw him. (Because of his weighted clothing)
He wondered what was up, but he wasn’t about to comment his observation. Instead, he waited for the reason to reveal itself unto his own deductive abilities. Perhaps, he hadn’t genuinely recovered to maximum capacity.

[Zach]

Remaining flat on his back as the figure above him moved to the side, Zach waited for some kind of identification. Even out of the direct line to the sun he was still little more then a darkened image. Finally though a voice was put to the image and at once Zach knew who it was. He laughed at the comment about his trying to get some color, thinking that was fairly obvious even though he really didn’t need any more.

“Oh hey, Nam.” Zach greeted the other boy. Not wonting to hold a conversation on his back if the other party wasn’t even seated next to him, Zach sat up and then climbed to his feet. He could definitely feel the added weight of his clothing now that his muscled had been burned in a bit.

“Not that long. What’s Kami had you up to while I’ve been laid up? Nothing too gruesome I hope.” the blonde added with another chuckle and gave Nam a cursory looking over now that he could actually see him. He could see that Nam’s clothes had been refurbished or maybe even replaced as there was much less sign of wear on them. Of course it wasn’t the boy’s clothes Zach was really interested in. His gaze hovered about Nam’s neckline for a moment before returning to the other’s eyes for his response.

[Nam Reikonaga]

The half-saiyan remained in stand-by as he waited for the shirtless man to get on his feet. He seemed a little lame standing up, as if something was holding him down. Nam couldn’t decide what it was, but it reflected his own appearance when he had to withstand the extra weight caused by the medallion. Nam was then struck with a question he wasn’t sure how to answer. The holy water he drank was definitely sacred and not known by many. Perhaps Kami had kept it a secret for some reason, but Nam didn’t think it’d be a problem if he told Zach.

“Well… where should he start?” he began. “In the last three days, almost immediately after everyone’s meeting, Kami had given me some weird red medallion and asked me to keep it during that time.” He paused a moment, so Zach could follow up. If he was like Nam, he would forget what he was being told as it came whence the person would exceed a number of words to process. Nam himself had found himself in situations where he was incapable repeating what he had just been told.

“During those three days, demons from the underworld had been chasing me wherever I go…” Nam cringed to the memory of that last demon who had encountered; a beautiful and slender woman which would then transform into a man, what a horror indeed. “They were pretty tough, especially since the medallion had some weird curse that made all my clothes heavier. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was for me to get around.” He laughed at himself, remembering the time he crashed against a tree at the very beginning when he left the Lookout. He was too heavy to stabilize in time and crash landed.

“Today was my last day and I returned the medallion to Kami, but I missed the weight on my shoulders and went out to get some weighted clothing.” Nam grinned. “Tenshu also made me drink some ‘Holy Water’, it was an incredible experience and improved my power by quite a lot. Kami said it unleashes the inner potential of the person who drinks it.” Nam stopped, wondering if he had left anything out.

“I think that’s about it… what have you been up to?”

[Zach]

Zach listened attentively to Nam recounting the past few days and nodded periodically as he took in the information. Nam certainly had been busy. Interestingly enough they both had acquired weighted clothing in each other’s absence. One thing about Nam’s story did bug Zach though. While he’d been laid for the week, Nam had been getting some special treatment and it was something Kami had completely neglected to tell the boy. Perhaps it was fear that his anger needed to be better controlled before such gifts were offered to him, or perhaps he was unworthy in some way. In either case, Zach was been left behind and it hurt his feelings.

There was of course envy that Nam had gotten said treatment, but the slightly more grown up side of him was happy that the other boy was advancing. The thoughts about them getting their weighted clothing came back again and Zach decided to start his reply on that subject.

“Oh you got weighted stuff too?” the blonde asked rhetorically and started to slip off his right wrist band. “So did I. Picked them up the other day at Toshio’s school. Here, feel this sucker. The seamstress at the school said it’s filled with something called stabilized darmstadtium. Heavy as hell.” Zach continued as he handed the wristband weighing in excess of three hundred pounds to the other boy.

“So, Kami’s inflating your ego with magic water eh? Well that’s good I guess, you need to think more of your self.” the blond added. “Hey, how about we give that gravity machine a whirl? See if you can finally take me when I’m not handing you the fight.” Zach concluded with a cocky grin.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Nam turned to face Zach as he mentioned he also was wearing weighted clothing. I see, that explains it… he thought. The half-saiyan extended his hand out with palm facing upward to receive the wrist band. Nam’s hands began to shake as the weighted already pulling down on his hand increased two-fold. “D-darmstadtium, huh?” he muttered while returning it to its owner. “I think my clothes have that too, it weighs about the same.” Nam loosened his hands as the weight was lifted.

Nam’s face was then flushed by Zach’s last comment, Handed you the fight, eh? his eyes narrowed and glared at his cocky rival. “Sure, let’s give it a round…” he said as calmly as possible, but his blood was boiling. In a cartoon you’d see the cross-like veins popping out on his forehead, which expressed irritation. It had been a while since they had fought and it was about time they had their third match. “Lead the way.” Nam smirked, finally confident in his ability to actually win. He wasn’t about to lose again, not with his current training.

The half-saiyan began to crack his muscles and stretch his arms as they approached the chamber. This would be Nam’s first time in a gravity machine, and he didn’t really know what to expect. He really didn’t understand the intensity of gravity because Earth’s was so weak compared to other planets, but he would soon learn. If Zach had one advantage, it’d be Nam’s benightedness to the machine. But Nam had seen all his new moves from the orb Kami had shown to everyone. He watched it all, his battle against Touketsuki Yakedo. He wondered if Zach had finally covered the weak-spot in his energy armor.

[Zach]

“Hmhmhm, yeah, it’s supposed to be something like a hundred and ten on the element chart. Super heavy stuff.” Zach commented as he took the band back and slipped it onto his wrist. He could see Nam’s flustered expression and the determined look in the boy’s eyes which of course made Zach very happy. He wanted to see Nam sure of himself and wouldn’t mind taking a few punches to get that done. He of course had no idea how much Kami’s magic water had actually artificially increased Nam’s abilities though and thus had no idea what he was getting himself into.

Leading the way, Zach took Nam to the gravity chamber. It wasn’t so much a chamber as that pertained to some grand, stylized room. This was little more then a large storage area that had been equipped with gravity plating on the floor and ceiling. The plating on the floor obviously for the benefit of the occupants while the plating on the ceiling was to prevent the gravitational field emitted from the floor plating, from caving in the roof.

Letting Nam step into the largely featureless room first, Zach closed the door behind them and stepped over to the control panel. The control were simple, and on/off button and a setting dial and thanks to that Royd guy, the machine had a line to the power supply that was recharging the guy’s flying saucer. Not wanting to over tax Nam on the first run, Zach dialed the selection knob to the same setting Captain Ryota had used during their bout, approximately 10 times Earth’s normal pull. Once the knob was set, Zach looked back to Nam and grinned.

“Better get ready for this.” he teased and pressed the On button. In the space of ten seconds the gravitational pull in the room increased gradually to ten G’s. Zach strained against the weight but knew what to expect from his experience aboard the Captain’s ship. It was going to be interesting to see how Nam would react. Both of them though were definitely in for a heck of a workout, between their weighted clothing and the gravity pull, their body’s would probably be exhausted in minutes, but Zach enjoyed the challenge and intended to give Nam a fight he wouldn’t forget.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Upon entering the large room, Nam immediately thought he would have to refrain from using powerful ki attacks. He was afraid it would destroy this expensive machine. Suddenly, the room grew eerily silent when Zach closed the door behind them. All the habitual noises you’d hear outside: the trees, the grass, it all stopped and Nam realized how quiet it really was. He could only hear that tapping sounds of Zach’s red boots, which were unnoticeable a few moments ago. Nam remained in standing in place, observing the featureless room. Even though it was not suitable for ki attacks, the space would suffice for hand to hand combat.

Zach started at the controls, which process was unknown to Nam. It was obvious he was already familiar with the machine. Nam’s heart began to race as Zach urged him to brace himself. He didn’t know what to expect, suddenly he was nervous and began to sweat as well as his hands slightly quivered. Nam couldn’t understand why he was so nervous, or perhaps he was just so excited, not knowing the depth of gravity training. He stood there, smiling back at his blond friend as his eyes were slanted on the half-saiyan, as if he was waiting for something to happen and wouldn’t want to miss it.

A robotic voice began to speak through the room. Muttering something about initiating the gravity ten time’s earth’s g –whatever that meant. Then… it happened. Nam felt a strange force had made him oblige to his knees. His placed his right hand forward to support him. This was nothing like he had ever experienced, he couldn’t have ever imagined gravity at this level. It wasn’t like the medallion, which somehow made all his clothes heavier. Instead, it was like a giant was trying to plant its foot over the half-saiyan. The strain was so powerful Nam was already breathing heavily, he wondered how much of the strain was from his weights and which was actually the gravitational pull.

Nam looked up, Zach was standing with the same grin he had since they entered the room. It was like nothing to him. It was the same with Kami too. The old man was holding the medallion, not showing a hint of its effects, but once it reached Nam’s hands he was dragged to his knees. Frustrated, Nam lowered his head, looking at the floor. His neck was already tense from keeping it up. Nam closed his eyes as he made the struggle to get on his feet. He used all his strength to get back up, and then to look at his opponent. His eyes would twitch to the stress he was enduring. “Wow…” he muttered. “This is… intense!” he said that last word rushed.

Nam then got in his battle stance: the left side of his body was facing his adversary, Zach. His leg was bent and facing forward while his arm was arched upward in a 90 degrees right angle, covering his chest and chin. The right side of his body was hidden behind, with his right arm resting at his thigh and closed into a fist. “Let’s do this…” he said, still struggling against the gravity. Nam was starting to think this was truly a huge advantage for Zach.

[Zach]

As Zach powered the machine on, he braced himself for what he knew was to come. Like before the wave of ever increasing gravity hit him like a brick to the groin, especially with all of the added weight he was carrying. He managed to stay on his feet though, although this fight would certainly be on par with the one he’d engaged in with Captain Ryota. He watched as Zam collapsed under the amplified gravity and was about to step forward to help the other boy up when Nam managed to haul himself up on his own. Impressed Zach stood back and watched as Nam appeared to be adjusting to the intense pull about as fast as he had.

“Hmhmhm, don’t worry about falling on your face, I won’t tell anyone. Same thing happened to me on my first time.” Zach commented with a smile as Nam straitened himself and assumed his stance. He was happy to see Nam was so eager, like Zach, he was adjusting quickly, although in Zach’s case back on Ryota’s ship, it was because of he was being fueled by vast reservoirs of rage. Nam on the other hand was one of the most level headed kids he knew and that suddenly sparked an issue in Zach’s mind. ‘Exactly how far did Kami inflate him?’ Zach though to himself. It was then that he got the first tiny inkling that Nam may not have been artificially boosted just a little bit, but beyond even Zach’s own abilities. ‘That creep, he is playing favorites.’ Zach grumbled in his own mind, aiming the vitriol at an imaginary image of Kami for knowingly leaving him behind.

Raising his fists, Zach was suddenly silent and serious looking from an outward perspective, namely Nam’s. The boy was intent now on not losing. True Kami had saved his life but it was insulting to be left behind like this. Zach was stronger by far then either of Kami’s other pupils but now he was being left in the dust and all probably because the green man didn’t want to amplify the power of someone who’s goals he didn’t agree with. Well that simply wouldn’t stand. Zach was determined now to prove that even if they tried to leave him behind he would keep pace and surpass all of them, the teacher’s pet with the other sized shoulder pads, and now Kami’s latest protégé.

“Alright, you want a fight, come and get it.” Zach rasped and positioned his fists in his classic defensive posture. He didn’t care that Nam still had his sword and other trappings on, his eternal flaming pit of anger had belched up a massive fireball and that energy needed an outlet. Normally he would have asked Nam to take off what he didn’t need, the weighted clothing being an obvious exception, but now all Zach wanted to do was hit the brown haired boy.

[Nam Reikonaga]

Zach seemed to have been ready to begin the fight. They both stood there for a moment when Nam realized he was given the first move. It was inconvenient for him because he preferred defending rather than taking the offensive. As he began to wonder how he should approach, he remembered his sword was still strapped on his back. Nam decided to keep it on, he didn’t want to waste his precious energy trying to take it off, which made him think about adding a strap to the scabbard where he could easily remove his two-edged sword and allow it to fall on the ground. In the end, he decided it would function as extra weight for his training since he wouldn’t dream of using it against an unarmed opponent.

His mind then returned to focus on what move he should perform. His skills haven’t really changed since last time, so Zach would know what to expect; although, he doesn’t know that. Finally, Nam concluded that the best way to break the ice is simply attacking, even if it doesn’t hit. Their distance wasn’t too large and it only took a few steps for him to reach the blond man. “Alright, here we go!” Nam advanced in small careful steps, without breaking his stance or crossing his legs. When he reached close combat range, the right side of his body shifted forward with a swift thrust to the chest from his right fist, which was resting on his thigh. From that position, the left side of his body was still on the same spot, but behind him with his left arm now resting on his waist. His left leg was arched and planted in front of him.

Nam’s movements were quite slow, and although his punch was swift, it wasn’t really fast at all –although it probably packed more power because of it. He was struggling with the combination of his weights and the increased gravity. The strand of brown hair fringed on his face would go down in a straight line, ending at the left end of his lower lip, as opposed to its curled nature. His body was already sweating and Nam began to realize he didn’t really prepare himself properly before entering the fight. He began to wonder if the reason why Zach never wore a shirt was because he’d always forget to take it off.

[Zach]

Zach watched Nam carefully to see hat his opening move would be and during that time, realized he hadn’t told Nam he was giving him the first shot. The boy picked up on it eventually and came at him with a stylized punch that was aimed for his chest. With his arms in their usual defensive posture about his head and chest though it was a simple matter to intercept the punch. Nam’s shot though was more powerful then Zach was expecting under these conditions but his left forearm took the impact well and Zach fired an immediate counter with his right. Seeing as how Nam lowered his left arm to launch the right handed punch, Zach was obliged to take full advantage and aimed to punish the boy for dropping his guard with his first move.

Zach aimed his shot higher then Nam’s, going for the other boys cheek. His movements though were also slowed by the need to coordinate his muscles so as both not to over extend and topple himself and to continually resist the intense pull from the gravity plating beneath their feet. Still the punch was filled with as much strength as he could feed into it and unlike his opponent, he didn’t stop with just one punch. As Zach started to retract his right arm from it’s punch, he eased off on the left arm that had intercepted Nam’s right and launched a second high punch, aiming to knock the other boy’s head the other way, providing of course the first punch landed.

[Nam Reikonaga]

As expected, Zach wasn’t about to let himself get hit so easily. Nam’s thrust was intercepted by his adversary’s left forearm and immediately began to launch his counterattack towards the face. The half-saiyan wouldn’t have been able to move fast enough to intercept with his arm, and moving away wouldn’t get them anywhere. Instead, Nam crouched down and closed in under his opponents attack, ramming his left fist into his midsection.

It resulted much easier for Nam to simply let his body fall under Zach’s punch to evade, since the gravity did most of the work. This worked in his favor to rapidly evade, but sustaining his lowered stance was extra work and moving in for the strike was just as slow as his first; but since he was closer than before, Nam was sure he would hit the mark. The question was, did Zach tighten his abs in time? The half-saiyan was anxious to know how prepared his blond rival was to receive such a long awaited blow to his sweaty packs of glory.

Many martial artists always said that the first attack was the most important part of a fight. Once you break the ice, everything goes smoothly.

[Zach]

Launching his one two combination for Nam’s head, Zach was surprised to see his target drop out of view faster then he could hit it. Realizing Nam was now in a good position to pound on him in return, Zach tried to act quickly and started to reel his arms back into a defensive posture. Being crouched low as he was, it was clear what Nam’s target likely was and Zach also tried to tense up accordingly. Still, the brown haired boy’s punch was stronger then Zach had imagined and even with his abs tightened, the fist managed to penetrate an inch or so into his stomach.

“Oooph!..” Zach gasped and stepped back, grimacing from the strike. His midsection had now fully recovered from his battle with Suki but Nam’s abilities had been artificially enhanced to such an extent that the steely muscles could barely hold against the punch. Still Zach wasn’t going to let a bit of pain stop him from proving he wouldn’t be so easily left behind. With Nam bend over in front of him, the blonde teen had a decent opening for attack and too it, raising his right knee with the intention of bashing the other boy in the chest with it. If successful, the impact would likely straiten Nam back up or drop him to the floor. If indeed he came back up though, Zach intended to follow the knee with a quick elbow strike across the boy’s cheek to disorient him.