Soon arriving at Gero's lab, I enter, sheltering from the fierce cold.
"Gero I'm back, turned out to be a few hours, not a year!" I yell throughout the lab.
Rounding a corner, Gero's expression quickly shifts to shock upon seeing what is on my shoulder.
"Adder, who is that?" Gero asks anxiously.
Laying Raditz down on a couch, I stretch after a long day, explaining through groans, "His name's Raditz…" Letting out a loud puff of air, I continue, "He's a Saiyan, he's weaker than me by a large margin but under the right circumstances he's twice as strong as me."
Stunned to hear this, Gero responds, "A Saiyan?"
Crashing down onto the loveseat, I flip through channels on the television, responding, "He's an alien, they're a highly formidable race, study him, but treat him with respect, he may become an ally to us if we play our cards right."
Curious, Gero continues, "In what way formidable?"
As I flip through the channels suddenly the tv turns to static, standing up I slap the side of it, muttering to myself, "Damn tv, I outta just buy some fucking DVD movies and watch stuff that way," responding I explain further, "They possess an ability called Zenaki, it lets them grow stronger from near-death experiences."
Staring at me and Raditz, Gero eventually responds, "You're quite filthy, go take a shower, I'll handle him."
Turning off the tv, I pull off my shirt, tossing it into a chute across the room, "Make it quick and keep him guarded, he could level this mountain range if he wanted to."
"I appreciate the information, I'll assign some guards to him," Gero responds.
Entering into the shower I wash away the filth of combat as I ponder my next moves.
Without someone to train at king kai's, we don't stand a chance when Vegeta and Nappa come, I thought to myself.
Washing my hair, I stood silent as I thought aloud, "Can Kami use kai-kai?"
He managed to go to the check-in station when Goku died, surely he could teleport me, if he could take me there I could make my way to King Kai, I thought to myself.
Turning the shower off, I step out, drying myself and putting on fresh clothes.
I'll have to bank on that, I thought to myself.
Exiting the shower, I enter the main room, Gero is tinkering on an android.
Looking toward me, Gero asks, "How exactly can that saiyan become twice as strong as you, I find it hard to believe."
"Saiyans have the capacity to turn into something called a great ape, which amplifies their power by ten times their normal amount," I explain.
"Ten times?" Gero says, his voice tinged with surprise.
Remembering the scouter, I quickly reach into my pocket, pulling out the device, "Gero."
Turning toward me, Gero waits for me to speak, "Catch," I say as I toss the device toward him.
Catching the device, Gero asks, "What is this?"
Crashing onto the loveseat, I answer, "A scouter, seems that it's used to assign a numerical value to a target's power."
Over the course of a few hours, Gero gradually takes an increasingly greater interest in the device, eventually approaching me, he throws the device at me.
Quickly swiping out of the air, Gero says, "I've never seen such intricate engineering, I believe what you say beyond a shadow of a doubt now."
Throwing my head backward, I tease Gero, "What you don't trust me, have I ever led you astray."
"Mistakes are bound to happen," Gero retorts.
"Fair," I respond in kind.
No point in standing here waiting might as well go ask Kami, I thought to myself.
Standing up, I walk toward the front door, throwing my hand up to Gero, announcing, "I'm heading out, I might be a while, don't blow yourself up. "
"Certainly," Gero says haphazardly, returning back to his work quickly.
Stepping out in the snowy landscape, the sky is clear and the sun is directly above.
Let's get a move on, I thought to myself, before rocketing off toward the lookout.
"Adder, how wonderful it is to see you again," Kami proclaimed heartily.
Approaching I throw my hand up in greeting, "Likewise," I say in short, quickly continuing, "We've got threats coming this way and I won't be strong enough by then to handle them."
Seemingly expecting this, Kami responds, "Yes, I saw your fight with Raditz from here."
How do I ask Kami about King Kai, I thought to myself.
A slight shift in Kami's expression doesn't go unnoticed by me, soon after my thought Kami comments, "Perhaps the other world holds what you seek."
Can he read my mind? I thought to myself anxious.
Slowly, I respond, "What makes you say that?"
Shit, he's spoken telepathically countless times, of course, he can read minds, I thought to myself.
Chuckling to himself, Kami continues, "Experience with men like you."
Sighing, I responded in kind, "Who'd you have in mind?"
***
Flying down snake way, an undertaking I underestimated greatly, I was given barely enough food and water to last the trip, but I should make it. Progress felt slow, but that comes with the area it seems.
"How much further is this damn planet!" I shout angrily.
God I'm starving, if only I brought food, what a fucking idiot, I thought to myself.
Looking below me as I fly, occasionally the clouds thin, revealing a land far beneath.
I forgot about hell, man, being in this universe for so long has really come at a cost, I thought to myself.
In the next few hours, I finally arrive at King Kai's planet, dropping to the ground. I can feel the gravity shift, with my shoulders growing heavier and my body feeling sluggish.
Looking at my fists I swing them around, clenching them tightly, before commenting aloud, "Damn, ten times gravity ain't a joke."
"A visitor?" I hear a muffled yet familiar voice say from within the only house on the planet.
Here he comes… I thought to myself.
Opening the door, King Kai makes his appearance, now face to face with me, promptly asks, "Now who might you be?"
Approaching, I extend my hand to greet him, "My name is Adder Gravis, it's nice to meet you, King Kai," I say with a smile.
Looking me over, King Kai soon shakes my hand, "Why have you come here?."
"Power," I say bluntly.
"My my, a straight shooter are we," King Kai says with a tinge of shock in his voice.
"I don't have time to play around, it took me several days to get here, and I can't waste a second," I explained calmly.
King Kai looks me over once more, before asking, "You don't seem to have any major issues with the gravity."
Stamping my foot on the ground, I respond shortly, "It's not too bad."
Looking toward the house, King Kai yells, "Bubbles! Get over here."
Before King Kai can continue, I interject, "Can I eat first, I haven't eaten in almost a week, my stomach is eating itself right now."
Stopping himself, King Kai says, "Catch Bubbles and then you can have something to eat!"
I gotta make this quick, I'm dying to eat, I thought to myself.
Exiting the house, a monkey appears, energetically bouncing on his feet toward us.
What a trip, if I'd never seen Dragon Ball that'd be a sight for sure, I thought to myself with a chuckle.
"Don't take Bubbles lightly now, he's a spry one!" King Kai says energetically.
Alright, let's see how I fair, I thought to myself.
Bubbles begins to walk away, instantly I lunge toward him, forcing him to immediately speed up, dipping away from me narrowly.
Jetting toward him repeatedly, I am inches away from grabbing hold of him, until eventually, I manage to narrowly grab his tail, yanking him toward me and latching onto him.
"Gotcha!" I yell enthusiastically.
Shocked, King Kai speaks emphatically, "Already?"
Seemingly bummed out, Bubbles sits down on the grass, moping to himself.
"So can I eat now," I ask?
Walking toward the house, King Kai yells to Bubbles, "Fire up the grill Bubbles!"
After a short meal, a feeling of bliss washes over me, finally having something to eat after so long feels as though it mends my soul.
Chuckling, King Kai continues, "I guess I'll go ahead and call out Gregory," yelling once more, "Gregory!"
Zipping in from far away, Gregory manages to move fast enough to where I almost miss him.
Hold up, this one's gonna be a challenge it seems, I thought to myself with excitement.
"Gregory, this is a new pupil of mine, I want you to give him a good workout," King Kai explains.
Already a pupil huh, didn't miss a beat, I chuckle lightly as I thought to myself.
Tossing a hammer to me, I catch it, King Kai says, "Once you can hit Gregory with that hammer we'll move on."
Looking at me, Gregory announces, "Catch me if you can!" Before immediately flying away in a flash.
Chasing after him, we cover the island many times over, but no matter how fast I move I can't close the gap, not even getting close to touching him.
"Looks like I got my work cut out for me!" I mutter to myself excitedly.
***
Over the course of two months did I spend, failure after failure until finally, I achieved it, with a careful strike, I manage to thwack Gregory on the top of his head with the hammer.
Pumping my fists into the air I shout, "Fucking finally!"
Rubbing the top of his head, Gregory complains, "You just got lucky!"
Approaching with a grin, King Kai says while clapping, "Nicely done Adder, you've made some great process," suddenly King Kai's tone shifts, growing serious, before continuing, "If you thought that was hard, just wait, once we hone that control of yours further you'll be able to use really special techniques!"
This is what I've been waiting for! I thought to myself in anticipation.
"What might that be?" I ask.
Grinning, King Kai throws his hand up, wiggling two of his fingers, saying, "While I'm sure you can handle the first one, your impure heart is gonna make the second one much more difficult."
Stretching, I ask, "So which one are we starting with?"
"Seeing as it suits you more, I think I'll teach you the kaioken," King Kai
Smiling, I respond, "Ready whenever."