legionworld | Take a page from Piccolo's book

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Take a page from Piccolo's book

Who| Gohan and whoever joins him.
What| Meditating in the hopes that he can master his energy and apply it in different ways.
Where| His biome.
When| Sometime after Books of Magic.
Warnings/Notes| None?

As much as he told himself otherwise, Gohan hadn't left the encounter with his mirror self completely unscathed. Sure, his mirror self's words didn't affect him as much as they would've if he'd been a teenager, but they still affected him, and it was hard to shake off. Maybe it was the curse of overthinking everything. Maybe he'd just never really gotten over his insecurities.

Whatever the case, Gohan needed something to distract himself. Which was why he was in his biome, sitting on the ground and meditating. He was wearing a green tracksuit, legs crossed, eyes closed. The older man still as a rock, the gentle rise and fall of his chest the only sign of movement coming from him.

In a way, his mirror self was right. He was a coward, but not in the way it was thinking. His entire adult life, he'd tried to distance himself from fighting whenever he could, only coming back whenever he felt like his strength was needed. But he was never strong enough, because he never stuck to his training. At the same time though, he didn't want to be less of a husband and father, even if it meant letting his strength slip past him. So in that way... yes, he was scared of losing what was most precious to him.

But that changed now.

He was going to take a page from Piccolo's book. He wasn't going to throw himself into training just to get stronger, he was going to fight smarter. His father may have been the strongest fighter he knew, but Piccolo was the smartest fighter he knew. The way he gave his energy the ability to pierce opponents by condensing his energy... between attacks like that, and his energy minefield, Piccolo could dominate the battlefield with energy alone.

And Gohan was going to figure out how he did that. Starting with complete and total mastery of his current energy through meditation.

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Miku stepped into the biome and nodded to herself. It didn't look too dissimilar from her place on the hab. Less forested, though, far more field. She noticed Gohan a little ways away, and wandered over to stand nearby.

He seemed to be meditating, and Miku wavered. Perhaps it would be best to come back another time. "Ah.."

Gohan may not have been able to sense ki anymore, but his other senses were still enhanced while he was in the middle of meditation. He could definitely hear better, at least. As such, he could very clearly hear the grass rustle as someone stepped inside, his brow furrowing as he wondered who it even was.

Of course, he ultimately had to open his eyes to know who it was. And when he did, he found someone he... actually hadn't met before. Wait, no, didn't he see her when they confronted the wizard?

"Oh, hey there!" He called out. "Can I... help you?"

Miku held up her hands, "Ah, I... I was just looking. I didn't intend to interrupt...!" She motioned behind her, "I'll leave you, if you don't wish for others to wander around your..."

There was a word, what was the word? "Biome?"

"Oh, no, it's fine!" Gohan quickly reassured, not standing up from his current position. Although he did visibly relax when he realized that it was just a harmless visit by a curious teenager. "It's not really private, I'm just more used to training in wide open spaces rather than the gym."

The longer he looked at her though, the more he thought about the mission with the wizard. So much so, that he couldn't help but ask. "Actually, if you don't mind... were you in the mission with the wizard? The one with the mirrors?"

Miku nodded, "Yes, and we argued a bit about who ought to take the spear." She took a few more encouraged steps forward. "Well... discussed firmly," Miku amended quickly. "Pidge-chan," the honorific slipped out, "and I were partnered for that."

Gohan chuckled a bit, although there was a nervous edge to it. "Y-Yeah, I... I wasn't all there after I had to fight my mirror self, so I don't remember the 'firm discussion' very clearly." He did, however, remember who he was paired up with for the first half of that, and how that went. "I was paired up with Grif. We ended up in Atlantis. It was... honestly kind of easy, actually."

"Atlantis? We ended up in the End of Time... it was..." Terrifying. "Something else, to be sure. I think I would've preferred Atlantis," she smiled shyly.

"But after that, I was able to help solve some more... normal... well, I guess crimes really aren't 'normal' precisely."

Edited 2017-03-19 22:04 (UTC)

"They're normal by comparison." Gohan said with a smile. "It probably feels less stressful, at any rate."

Really though, Gohan would've preferred one of the tougher locations, if only to save any of the younger heroes the trouble. Something that he couldn't help but think about, when he heard that pause as she described the End of Time. "Atlantis was pretty nice. They have a tourist area and everything, actually." A pause. "I should see if we can go there again, for fun."

Edited 2017-03-19 23:28 (UTC)

"That is true. It's not always easy," she was beginning to see the limits of her abilities, but they were still quite powerful at the moment. And invasive.

"I think I would like to see Atlantis. I wonder if I'll have to swim strongly. I'm not very good at that." Even with the Legion training, Miku was still a few steps behind everyone else. She was satisfied with that, though, and didn't worry overmuch. "But I think I could try, if only to say I'd gone there."

"I'm honestly not sure. We had our flight rings on, and... they worked just fine underwater." He couldn't help but mention, although he scowled at the thought. Even now, it was hard to not think about how weird that was. Still, he shook his head, resolving to not think about it anymore. The last thing he needed to do was get distracted by something as inconsequential as how flight ring mechanics worked underwater.

"Either way, you probably don't need to worry about swimming with the flight ring on."

Gwen was just looking to talk to Gohan for no other reason other than to hang. It seemed like things could explode at any moment, so she wanted to take advantage of these low-activity moments while she still had them. The design of his biome always impressed her by just how... empty it was.

Like, literally nothing but plains and grass.

And more grass.

So, you know, not much web swinging would be going on.

Thanks, Gohan. And speaking of... That sure was him sort of sitting down with eyes closed.

Doing nothing.

Cool.

May as well sit down in front of him until he finally did something.

For a while, Gohan didn't do much of anything. He was so focused on his meditation, that he didn't notice (or mind) that Gwen was sitting in front of him. It took a good few minutes for Gohan to actually react, one eye opening to see the girl sitting there.

"... Hey Gwen." He finally said, a bit surprised. Then, as an afterthought. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah I'm cool." Gwen was just sort of... staring at him. She'd watched enough martial art films to know what he was doing.

A lot of sitting, with closed eyes.

Like, what was the point of that? Was he becoming one with the universe of something?

Was he gazing into the infinite?

What did it mean?!

"Just sort of wondering what you were doing just now."

"Oh, I was meditating." He said, like it was the most normal thing in the world. Both eyes opening, as he relaxed his sitting position to continue talking to Gwen. "Back home, my teacher was big on meditation. He believed that nothing could help you control your energy better than sitting down, and focusing on nothing else other than your energy flowing through you." He chuckled. "He has a point too, since he's one of the few people I know who's been able to use his energy for more than just blowing things up."

Finally, his expression fell, and he stared at his open hand for a bit. Willing some energy to it, and just... letting the small ball of energy hover over his open hand.

"... So I'm trying to do that. Finding different ways to use my energy other than just... you know," He aimed the hand over to a tree, and fired the blast. The energy blast small enough to leave the tree in tact, but definitely causing an explosion and leaving it moderately scorched. "That."

Goku, at least, kept his ability to sense ki, so the sizable spike of energy in Gohan's biome definitely caught his attention. He's stopped by a few times before, so he just walks in.

Seeing that Gohan's meditating, he just stays where he is and watches. Focus is important when it comes to meditation, and Goku definitely wouldn't want to interrupt when his son's clearly doing something important.

((OoC: Sorry this is so late - I just saw this.))

Gohan may not have had the ability to sense ki anymore, but he could still feel someone stepping into his biome. It was one of the basic principles Piccolo drilled into his head: to always be aware of his surroundings. As such, he could hear the sound of footsteps on grass, as well as the way they stopped as quickly as they became audible. So finally, he opened his eyes, turned to look at the source...

... and found his father staring back at him, which took Gohan by surprise.

"O-Oh uh, hey dad," He stammered out, suddenly feeling embarrassed. He felt so out of practice, that the thought of his dad catching him like this almost felt like an adult being caught trying to relearn how to walk. "Did you need something...?"

"Nah, just stoppin' by!" Goku grins; in contrast to Gohan's embarrassment, he's just glad to see that Gohan's trying to improve himself.

Now that Gohan's taking a break, he walks over and sits down in front of him. While he hasn't been to Gohan's biome as much as he should, he likes it here - it reminds him of home, or the training trips that Master Roshi sent him on. "So what're you up to?"

Gohan specifically had the biome modeled to look like the surrounding area of their home. Wide plains with mountains and forests in the background, the area where he specifically taught Videl how to fly. It was somewhere familiar, somewhere where he could train without stressing over property damage.

"Trying to meditate," Gohan said, although he dropped out of his meditation stance now. Simply sitting on the ground, as he formed a ki blast in his hand, and just let it float there. "Piccolo always stressed the importance of meditation, and now that I only have my energy to rely on, I'm trying to find different ways to use it." He dropped his hand, letting the ki blast hover in the air. Furrowing his brow, as he focused on controlling the ki. "So I'm trying to figure out how to do things like the Special Beam Cannon, or the Hellzone Grenade. I also had this idea where I could use my energy to trap opponents in shields, but... well, I'm taking it one step at a time."

Edited 2017-04-28 16:02 (UTC)

"That's a good idea! Probably best to start with stuff you've seen before to get used to controllin' it like that." Then again, aside from transformations, Goku isn't one to experiment with making new moves; he tends to take moves that other people know and use them in unconventional ways.

"From what I've heard 'bout the Hellzone Grenade, it'd be useful! Even just gettin' one or two ki blasts down with that would be great for catchin' an opponent off-guard!" Goku did something similar against Freeza, though it helped that Freeza couldn't sense ki and focused entirely on raw power instead of fighting strategically.

Edited 2017-05-04 23:22 (UTC)

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Gohan admitted, focused on the hovering ki blast. Before his gaze moved over to one of the many trees around, and the ki blast skyrocketed toward it, impacting it, and exploding. Not a big explosion, just enough to char the impact point on the tree. He wasn't putting a lot of ki into these, not while he was training with control.

"I figured if I can do something like that, it'll open up the door for different techniques," He said, sighing. "Special Beam Canon, Destructo Disc... heck, maybe I can shape my energy, like the Green Lantern rings. Who knows what's possible?"

"...What's a Green Lantern ring?" Goku rarely, if ever, watches the news, and while historical holograms of the Justice League are undoubtedly somewhere on the planet, at least as an option in the simulation room, it's not something that he'd look into.

((OoC: I am so sorry - I just realized that I hadn't responded to this.))

Edited 2017-05-31 02:07 (UTC)

Several hours had passed since Videl last spoke to her husband, when he told her that he was going to go meditate. The mention sent up a warning flag in her mind; Gohan tended to meditate pretty infrequently, unless he was troubled. And Videl could tell as soon as he returned home from his previous mission that something was troubling him. In a departure from her usual habit, Videl didn't immediately pester Gohan about what was bothering him. He would come to her when he was ready to talk.

But some time had passed and Videl was starting to worry. Meditation would help, she assumed. So she kept herself busy while waiting for Gohan to come back, but by the time late afternoon rolled around, Videl had run out of chores, use the gym twice, prepped the rest of today's and tomorrow's meals, and flipped impatiently through a few hundred television channels. It was time to find Gohan.

Impatient as she was when she arrived in the biome, Videl didn't immediately interrupt Gohan's meditation. Instead, she sat down beside him and waited for him to finish.

She wasn't exactly wrong, something was definitely on his mind. But Gohan was trying to make an attempt to channel that into something productive, something that could help him improve his powers. Piccolo had always said that meditation was the most important thing a fighter could learn, that meditation was the path to learning about what you were capable of. He just... never really made it clear what he meant by that, so Gohan had to interpret it in his own way.

Right now, Gohan was trying to hone his control over his energy. Not in the form of energy blasts, but just... how it flowed within his body. He was used to just letting his energy flow freely, his only control over it being whether he pushed it out, or pushed it down. Treating it like this though... it was reminiscent of the precision that came from wielding a Green Lantern ring.

And it was a lot harder than he expected.

Finally, he exhaled a breath he wasn't aware he was holding, and slumped forward. Hands gripping his knees, as he opened his eyes. This was... really broad, and it was difficult finding a place to start. Fortunately, he didn't have to worry about that right now, especially when he turned to look beside him and saw Videl there.

"Oh, hey Videl!" He said with a smile. "How long have you been sitting here?"

Videl returned the smile. "Only fifteen minutes, maybe," she answered, aware that it was probably more like thirty but she didn't want to make Gohan feel bad. "I was surprised it took you this long to notice me, but I guess I'm still not used to you not being able to sense ki here."

She stretched out her legs in front of her and her arms behind her, leaning back. "You've been out here all day. What are you working on?"

Her first mistake was thinking that Gohan wouldn't feel bad for making her wait any amount of time. Still, rather than dwell on it, he simply chuckled sheepishly at her comment about sensing ki. "Y-Yeah, it's... kind of weird, honestly. I'm so used to that, that not having it kind of feels like someone's got their hands over my ears, and I can't hear anything. It's disorienting."

At her question though, he sighed. Moving his hands behind him, for him to lean on. "I'm trying to figure out how my energy works here. I figure that's the first step in being able to do something new with it."

Videl looked up at the sky, trying to think back all those years to when they first joined the Legion as teenagers. To the other Legionnaires, time hadn't passed at all and past happenings were mere months ago. To Videl, those ten years she had spent at home were so busy and full of so many life changing events that it had become difficult for her to dredge up old memories from the Legion. While the others were away on mission, Videl had been rereading old reports and debriefings to jog her memory.

"Well, I remember you used to make some huge shields with it," she supplied, although he probably already remembered that.

He did remember the shields, but he appreciated her help nonetheless. A soft smile spreading across his face, as he simply took a moment to stare at his lovely wife. Finally though, he got back to the topic at hand. "Back home, when it comes to fighting, I usually use my energy just to make energy blasts, and power up. I mean, there's flying and sensing ki too, but those first two are how I'm used to physically manifesting it."

He tilted his head back then, looking up into the fake sky. "But my friends all find different ways to use their energy, and I was thinking I could... take a page from their book, I guess. Piccolo can create energy mine fields, and energy drills. Krillin can cut through anything with a sharp energy disc. Heck, my dad can absorb energy from around him." He sighed then. "Meanwhile I'm just... used to shooting large beams at everything."

Videl sat forward, pulling her legs up to her chest and tucking her knees under her chin. She hadn't ever put much thought into it, but now that Gohan mentioned it, she noticed it too; he really didn't incorporate much variety into his offensive ki usage.

"How come?" she asked frankly. "Is it hard?"

Well, yes, it was probably hard for most people. Ki usage had never become natural for Videl; she was aware of it in her body and could use it to fly, but she struggled with sensing other people's ki, even when they were close to her. She had never successfully incorporated offensive ki usage into her fighting style, as the level of concentration she needed to use ki made it difficult to do anything else.

Gohan wasn't a very creative person. His strength came from his ability to learn through example, not so much from his ability to come up with something new. All his milestones, they all came after long periods of training under someone. But when he tried to train alone...

It always felt more like he was going through the motions, rather than actually improving in any significant way.

"It's um... it's a little hard," Gohan clarified with a small chuckle. Before sighing, as he kept staring at the sky. "I'm not used to training by myself. Usually I train under someone, and learn everything they have to teach me. I'm not really good at... coming up with my own training regiments." A pause. "At least, when it comes to getting stronger."

That was another thing Videl had noticed but hadn't really paid any mind. Whenever Gohan felt like training, he usually sought out either his father or Piccolo to help him, even though he had long since surpassed the latter in strength. Meanwhile, Videl had never really had issues coming up with training routines. Training alone had always been her norm and for a long time, incorporating a training partner had been like trying to fight with a third arm.

"Have you ever tried adapting your friends' techniques to your own fighting style?" Videl asked. "Training to get straight up 'stronger' doesn't really seem to work in this universe."

"Funny you mention that,"

Despite himself, Gohan couldn't help but chuckle a bit. The whole reason he was trying to understand how his energy currently worked was to do exactly that, starting with Piccolo's techniques. Ironically, this would've probably been easier if he was a teenager, back when he was more actively training and aware of his energy limitations. Right now though, between being out of practice, and being set in his ways... well, it was hard.

"That's actually what I'm trying to do, starting with one of Piccolo's techniques," He said, aiming the palm of his hand to the sky. Firing an energy blast, but just... letting it float there, not moving. "He can create a minefield with energy blasts."

Videl watched as Gohan threw a glowing orb of energy into the air. She couldn't recall if she had ever seen Piccolo use this technique, although there were plenty of reasons why. Even before Pan was born, Videl never approached Piccolo for training; she knew his techniques focused in large around ki manipulation, and since the only ki technique she used regularly was flight, there wasn't much for her to learn from Gohan's surrogate second father.

"How does it work?" she asked, trying to resist the urge to fly up and investigate it herself. "Is it proximity based or can you blow it up at will?"

"He blew them up at will," Gohan said, forming another ki blast in his other hand, and also firing it into the air. Both of them floating in the air, as he kept his eyes trained on them. "I think he first used it against Android 17, or so he told me. The entire idea is to fire a bunch of energy blasts, make your opponent think you're trying to hit them, but missing... until they realize they're surrounded, and you bring all the blasts together to one point."

Gohan took a deep breath, before biting his lower lip. Exhaling said breath, as the energy blasts harmlessly exploded in the air. "I can hold them in place, but I can't make them move past that. I haven't had a lot of experience moving energy blasts after I fire them..."

It wasn't too difficult for Videl to visualize what Gohan was describing. She could easily imagine dozens of orbs of light hanging in the air, cluttering all the space around you until it's too late to escape.

She examined the two floating orbs from her seat next to Gohan. "I can see why that would be hard. It's still your ki, but it's not connected to you anymore, so it must be a lot more difficult to sense it." She tapped her chin, deep in thought. "How did you get them to explode?"

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Take a page from Piccolo's book

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