Aug 2, 2024 1:22:10 GMT
Post by Athren on Aug 2, 2024 1:22:10 GMT
The day of the tournament was finally upon them and after a six day flight through space in Athren's new ship, they would arrive on Earth tomorrow and participate in the Intergalactic tournament hosted by the Earth. It was assumed that it would be a rather large gathering of spectators, broadcasting services and fighters and Athren was quite looking forward to displaying the might of the saiyan race on such a grand stage. The orders of the King had been very simple, he wanted a saiyan victory and forbid killing for now. Athren had assumed that the King had wanted to display saiyan might and for them to take this victory for the pride of their race and that was reasonable, they were called a warrior race after all and getting defeated in such a tournament wouldn't support that claim. The saiyan race needed to be both feared and respected, and Athren was more than willing to deliver on the part. As far as the killing went, while it was somewhat of a bummer Athren understood this too. The king may have been scoping out the powers of Earth and preparing for an invasion. If the saiyan race had been permitted to kill during this tournament it would've immediately started a war. While starting a war was something that Athren had no issue with doing, he wanted to start the invasion of the planet but that had to be done under the orders of the King. Athren wasn't going to go against that or do it on his own. The saiyan race needed to be ready and prepared and it was obvious that the King wanted to know what they'd be up against on Earth.
The rumours of how weak the Earth was had spread far and wide and all the saiyan warriors on Planet Vegeta had believed it.
There was no reason to doubt such information as the Earth hadn't been a powerful force in the universe. Their military didn't leave the planet, they had no strong force of fighters and they had relied on technology to get the job done. It was completely believable. Though the rumours were believed, the saiyan race didn't need a repeat of Namek or Cereal. They had gone to those planets expecting to wipe them out with ease and conquer the planets with little resistance but the Saiyan empire had taken quite a loss. Not only did they lose quite a few saiyan warriors but they had also taken a lot longer to conquer the planet than initially thought. If Earth had managed to hid powerful warriors or technology, there was a small chance that the saiyans would meet equal resistance and walk into the same situation they did previously and they wanted to avoid that. They couldn't afford to keep underestimating their target planets and keep losing soldiers to them. If that had kept up the way it was, they'd lose their military force in a few more invasions. That had to be avoided.
Even Athren had been caught off guard by the strength of the Namekians and the Cerealians. From what he had heard, they were both typically a peaceful race. They shouldn't have had warriors with the strength that they did. It was completely unexpected and not anything that the saiyans had been warned about and because of that they had struggled to conquer the planets and lost a handful of good soldiers. Moving forward, they couldn't allow that to happen anymore. The best thing for them to do was gather what intelligence they could before proceeding to attack the planet. While it didn't have to be much, they could at least try to judge what they were up against. This was a decision that would be left to the King alone. The blood of the dead saiyans would be on his hands and his eagerness to conquer was high but he still didn't want to risk more than he needed too. He was a King that wanted to plan appropriately, he wanted to ensure a saiyan victory every time he gave the order to attack. He wasn't going to need much information and he'd probably pull the trigger as soon as he learned that the Earth had no powerful warriors. Whether or not he did, Athren would be eagerly awaiting another invasion. He had to make things right since he lost his fight on Cereal. He craved more battle, more conquering and this time he wanted to be standing at the end of it.
It wasn't an easy thing for a saiyan to handle, being defeated during an invasion like that. While Athren was grateful that he lived to tell the tale and rectify his failures, it still infuriated him to the extreme. Though the positive of such a defeat was that it was driving him to become a much stronger fighter than he ever was before. Even since the time he had gotten back to Vegeta from Cereal, Athren had found himself growing so much stronger. He was over ten times stronger than what he was previously and it had happened in such a short amount of time. He couldn't help but think that he was only starting to tap into his potential and that there was still a long way to go before he hit a plateau or a flat line of any kind. He just had to keep pushing, he had to keep training in order to see if he could find the limits of a saiyan warrior. His drive for battle remained very high and he was eager to put this new strength of his to the test. The day he would get to would be tomorrow. He was looking forward to battling it out and he couldn't help but think that in the end, it was going to come down to himself and Callion. Either way, it would've been a saiyan victory if either one of them won, but he did want to beat Callion. Return the favour from last time.
What Athren hadn't been aware of was that he was partially a demon. His father had been a demon of the ancient times, one who had been more powerful with magics than physical combat. His father had controlled a legion of demons, they had all feared him and did his bidding and the whole reason for Athren's existence was to become a powerful warrior to be controlled. Athren's father had been seeking a powerful race in which to have a half-breed child with. A race that had powerful fighters, eager to fight, kill and conquer and the saiyan race had checked all the boxes on the list. Of course, while they weren't easily controlled Athren's father had believed his magic was enough to take control of the mind of the warrior but he didn't know how much pride the saiyan race had. While Athren had no knowledge of any of this or the fact that his transformations had come from his demon side, it did give him an edge that the rest of the saiyan race didn't have. It allowed him to tap into a power that no other saiyan had and put him above most by default. It had seemed as if Athren's fathers plan had worked to create a powerful warrior, though that would be the same thing that would work against him. While Athren continued to get stronger, he had simply been filling the expectations of his father unknowingly.
Athren's father was going to let Athren continue to grow stronger and stronger. He was keeping tabs on his child as he trained away and his son had just entered a stage of his life where his power was developing rapidly. It was possible that the combination of the demon and saiyan had made Athren grow stronger much faster than easier than the normal saiyan warrior. While Athren knew none of this, it was very likely. Athren just knew that he was different, he had a few examples why and was often called a half-breed by those around. He couldn't help but spike his curiosity, maybe there was some truth to that. He just didn't have any evidence of it. Regardless, whatever he was truly and whatever his heritage had dictated him to be didn't matter. He had embraced saiyan culture, he had grown up as a saiyan warrior and that likely wouldn't change unless something drastic happened. He was going to keep training and keep fighting like a saiyan no matter who told him otherwise. He had the pride and he had the determination and he wasn't going to stop. Even if he reached the power of the king, he'd just push harder and grow stronger. While he didn't have an interest in taking the throne, it would've been amusing to him to be more powerful then their leader. Though, he couldn't help but wonder how the king would react to a saiyan more powerful than him. Surely, it wouldn't slide.
While this thought crept into Athren's mind every now and then as he continued to get stronger, it wasn't a main focus. He wouldn't really give a shit what the king thought in that situation. What was he going to do, exile him? Order his execution? It was a challenge that Athren would accept with open arms. It was just another excuse to test himself and fight through opponents. He was a fighter and he'd fight to the very end, he would give an inch without making an opponent fight for it and that was one of the things that drove him. He loved challenging himself, he loved putting himself up against powerful warriors and he hoped that the trend would continue because in turn, if he had managed to survive he would just come out even stronger than he did before.
Though another thought he often dismissed would also cross his mind. If it came to that, if he had become stronger than the King or even become the strongest saiyan on Planet Vegeta, would he really be willing to continue to serve the Saiyan Empire? It was something that seemed counter productive to the amount of power he could hold. Why bother fighting for somebody who got all the rewards of Athren's battles and conquest, why not do it for himself and take the rewards for his own? It seemed only fitting, if he had been doing the work and becoming that powerful, the spoils of his conquest should belong to him.
For now, Athren would dismiss that thought again. He wasn't there yet and there hadn't been a point to thinking about it. For now, he just had to keep focus on getting stronger and more powerful and training for this tournament that was hosted tomorrow. He was going to be a loyal warrior to the Empire for the time being, even if the temptations of self enrichment continued to pester him. Besides, he did expect a war to take place on Earth soon, another invasion was surely about to focus the entire saiyan race on the Planet Earth and Athren had still wanted to be a part of that. If not for the riches that could be gained, but for the power he could acquire through battle. Even if the Earth didn't provide a strong enough warrior to challenge him, he could still end up having some fun and destroying countless cities and ending countless lives and he'd take what he could get. That day couldn't come soon enough but for now, he had to get through the tournament tomorrow. He wanted the tournament to be here, he was truly eager to see what the Earth could provide in terms of challengers. He wanted to put to rest whether or not the entire planet was weak or not. While he did believe the rumours, he was eager to prove them to be true. Though if they were proved false, he knew he was in for a real challenge.
Eager to fight in the tournament, Athren was once again going to dedicate an entire day to training. He hadn't really stopped since he stepped onboard the ship except to meet his other needs such as sleep and hunger. He hadn't remembered the last time he was this eager to train and get stronger. When he woke up it had been super early, of course the concept of time on the ship was lost as they travelled past planets, stars and suns. Without the cycle of day and night, it was easy to get lost to the time that had past. The only thing keeping track was the clocks. Though the trip had been for six days, it didn't quite feel that way with how much Athren was training and pushing himself. He had managed to occupy his time with training and the time did pass quickly doing it. His training was rewarding, even the short time on the ship had done him well. Yet he wasn't going to stop. He still had a day left and he was going to use every hour possible in order to keep getting stronger. It was the best use of his time on this trip and his time in the gravity machine had been getting well rewarded. Every time he had stepped out of the gravity chamber, he could almost feel the power increase immediately. He was well on his way to greatness and it wasn't going to stop and he wasn't going to slow down.
He had gotten himself dressed in his normal attire with his Super Heavy Weights connected to his armoured chest plate. He entered the gravity chamber and made his way over to the controls. He turned the dial to max and pressed the on button. In an instant the lights in the room turned red and Athren could feel the gravity pulling down against him as it tried to bring him down to the floor. Of course, he stood tall against it. He had already adapted to gravity but now it was a little more. Even though it had been a little more than last time, it wasn't a significant increase and he would still manage to stay on his feet and fight against it. The benefits of the gravity was that it made his entire body work harder to do the most basic actions and in turn that made him stronger. The resistance against him made everything well worth it and it usually wouldn't take long for him to feel the burning and aching in his muscles as they pushed through the gravity. Under the gravity, Athren had walked to the middle of the room as he began to stretch out his muscles. He wanted to be relaxed and loose before he got to the actual training session of the day. Last thing he needed was an injury the day before the tournament. That would've put him at a disadvantage, one that he didn't need.
After he stretched out, Athren would begin roaming the room rapidly and shadow boxing. His attacks were sharp as he launched them into the air rapidly as if he were fighting a real opponent. This was simply going to be his warm up, get his fresh and in the right mindset before he activated his training dummy. He kept moving around the room at a rapid pace, pushing himself as hard as he could to be as fast as he could while his attacks were accurate and powerful. He kept himself moving, not stopping as he got into the rhythm of the training session he was going to undergo. He knew that this was going to be a long training session, it was going to last the entire day. He'd stop for breaks and food but other than that, Athren wasn't going to stop. He desired more power and he was eager to be at his absolute peak before he starting sparring against the training dummy. Athren kept at this for about a half an hour, he made sure he was completely warmed up and ready before he got to the real challenge. While the training dummy itself wasn't much of a fighter or warrior, it did provide him with a harder workout than just doing simple shadow boxing, but he still wanted to make sure he was ready for it and that his body was prepared to keep going like this for the day. He couldn't have the training dummy getting a lucky hit and doing some actual damage.
With a short pause, Athren had activated the training dummy and began his battle with that. He kept pace with it fairly easily as they circled the room and moving at a rapid speed. He felt his muscles tensing up as they fought against the weight of the gravity and the weight that pressed against his shoulders. The weight upon him was heavy and he could definitely feel it, but it wasn't going to be enough to bring him down or slow him. He was far too determined for that. He couldn't afford to slow down, not with the tournament the next day. He wasn't even thinking about how tender or sore his body would be for the tournament, he was simply just thinking of the power that all this training would bring him and that was more than enough motivation for Athren to keep on pushing through. Though, he did have a thought. While he was here he could keep working on techniques and while he wanted another technique to help in his defensive abilities, he also wanted to improve upon his signature Nova Cannon. It was one of his first techniques that he developed as a child and it was one that had held him through plenty of battles but it was time to increase it's power. He needed to overhaul it, force more energy into it and really make sure it could devastate a live target.
Now this is where he'd really put this training dummy to the test. Ultimately, it was said that no amount of damage could break it. Athren had also been told that the training dummy had energy absorbing abilities through nodes in it's palm. He had never seen a technology like that before and while he didn't know where it came from, he was eager to test it out. Though he knew that if he were to unleash his Nova Cannon here in the ship, he risked the ship and their very lives. He would essentially be trusting all of their lives to the abilities advertised for the dummy. Now while it wasn't a choice Athren would be able to make easily, it was a decision he'd have to make. He vocalized and put the dummy on it's defensive mode where it would simply hold it's ground. In this case, it wasn't programmed to dodge put to simply tank the attack that would be incoming. Athren stood there across the room, his ocean blue eyes staring down the training dummy that stood strong and tall before him. He couldn't help but think of all the things that could go wrong in the next few moments if he had decided to go through with the train of thought but at the same time, he couldn't help but think about how powerful his Nova Cannon could become. A part of him would rather die here and now than be defeated because he wasn't prepared.
The best case scenario here would've been that the training dummy managed to absorbed Athren's entire attack and contain it. Athren would improve upon his technique and the ship itself would be completely safe from this little decision. Worst Case scenario, Athren completely blew apart the training dummy and his attack breached the hull of the ship or caused a huge explosion that killed them all immediately. He couldn't help but take a few moments to figure this out and while he knew the best possible decision in this situation, he had too much riding on not being prepared. The more techniques he knew the better and the more honed and trained that they all were, the higher the chance of a saiyan victory tomorrow. That alone was well worth the risk in his eyes, and he couldn't help but choose to continue with this train of thought. It might've been risky, but it was worth the gamble. If he ended right here and now, at least it'd be by his own decision. As for Callion and Pars, they likely wouldn't even get to know what was happening. They'd likely just die quickly, faster than they could comprehend what was going on. With his decision made, it was time for Athren to get to it and try to upgrade his technique. He was putting all his faith in the technology of the training dummy, he was putting their lives in it's hands. It might've been foolish, but he was willing to pay the cost.
Athren was too damn stubborn and determined to slow his progress down now and he wasn't going to wait until he touched down on the Earth to perfect this technique. He was going to get this out of the way, right here and right now. There wasn't a point in waiting, if he waited he might've never gotten this done. For all he knew tomorrow was going to turn into a blood bath and he'd need something more powerful. This couldn't wait. It was time. Right now. He extended his right hand out to his side as his red aura started to gather around his hand. His Nova Cannon while being one of his primary techniques had always been lacking in power. It was technique he never put much time or effort into. He preferred being up close and personal, brawling with his opponent. Even when it came to techniques, he preferred that method above any type of ranged attacks. It's just who he was,down to his soul. He knew that had left him weak at a distance but that didn't much matter to him until recently. Now it was something that had to be rectified and fast. He knew that tomorrow would likely have some ranged fighters, people who preferred a distance and if they were good at ranged attacks, it'd be very difficult for him to close the distance and start pummelling them. While he was improving quickly, he still needed to take his techniques one at a time.
He poured more energy through his body and funnelled it towards his hand. The Ball of Ki grew bigger and bigger as its energy flared aggressively. Athren took his time condensing the energy further to avoid increasing the size of the technique while more power continued to go into it. When it was finally ready, Athren swung his hand forward and launched his attack towards the training dummy. It rapidly crossed the room of the gravitron and the training dummy stuck both it's hands out to meet the blast. Now this blast wasn't as strong as Athren could've made it but it was about double the power he normally put into it. When the attack collided with the training dummy's hands, it's energy absorbing nodes lit up the room with a bright white light as it sucked in all the energy Athren had tossed towards it. It took a few short seconds but the attack had been dealt with and Athren couldn't help but arch a brow. While the advertisements said it could handle just about anything, he thought that it was an exaggeration. Yet, he was grateful it held true. Otherwise, he might've been dead at this moment. Now that it had taken an improved power technique, Athren was going to amp it up and go to absolute full power. If the training dummy could handle that, then he'd believe it could truly handle anything at all. Now to test that theory.
Word Count: 4,000
-1 Pre-Workout Mix used: 10%
Super Heavy Weights: Equipped 75%
Gravity 2.0 (Pending approval) 75%
Training Dummy Active: 25%
[OT2] Improved Nova Cannon: Learned -1 TP
The rumours of how weak the Earth was had spread far and wide and all the saiyan warriors on Planet Vegeta had believed it.
There was no reason to doubt such information as the Earth hadn't been a powerful force in the universe. Their military didn't leave the planet, they had no strong force of fighters and they had relied on technology to get the job done. It was completely believable. Though the rumours were believed, the saiyan race didn't need a repeat of Namek or Cereal. They had gone to those planets expecting to wipe them out with ease and conquer the planets with little resistance but the Saiyan empire had taken quite a loss. Not only did they lose quite a few saiyan warriors but they had also taken a lot longer to conquer the planet than initially thought. If Earth had managed to hid powerful warriors or technology, there was a small chance that the saiyans would meet equal resistance and walk into the same situation they did previously and they wanted to avoid that. They couldn't afford to keep underestimating their target planets and keep losing soldiers to them. If that had kept up the way it was, they'd lose their military force in a few more invasions. That had to be avoided.
Even Athren had been caught off guard by the strength of the Namekians and the Cerealians. From what he had heard, they were both typically a peaceful race. They shouldn't have had warriors with the strength that they did. It was completely unexpected and not anything that the saiyans had been warned about and because of that they had struggled to conquer the planets and lost a handful of good soldiers. Moving forward, they couldn't allow that to happen anymore. The best thing for them to do was gather what intelligence they could before proceeding to attack the planet. While it didn't have to be much, they could at least try to judge what they were up against. This was a decision that would be left to the King alone. The blood of the dead saiyans would be on his hands and his eagerness to conquer was high but he still didn't want to risk more than he needed too. He was a King that wanted to plan appropriately, he wanted to ensure a saiyan victory every time he gave the order to attack. He wasn't going to need much information and he'd probably pull the trigger as soon as he learned that the Earth had no powerful warriors. Whether or not he did, Athren would be eagerly awaiting another invasion. He had to make things right since he lost his fight on Cereal. He craved more battle, more conquering and this time he wanted to be standing at the end of it.
It wasn't an easy thing for a saiyan to handle, being defeated during an invasion like that. While Athren was grateful that he lived to tell the tale and rectify his failures, it still infuriated him to the extreme. Though the positive of such a defeat was that it was driving him to become a much stronger fighter than he ever was before. Even since the time he had gotten back to Vegeta from Cereal, Athren had found himself growing so much stronger. He was over ten times stronger than what he was previously and it had happened in such a short amount of time. He couldn't help but think that he was only starting to tap into his potential and that there was still a long way to go before he hit a plateau or a flat line of any kind. He just had to keep pushing, he had to keep training in order to see if he could find the limits of a saiyan warrior. His drive for battle remained very high and he was eager to put this new strength of his to the test. The day he would get to would be tomorrow. He was looking forward to battling it out and he couldn't help but think that in the end, it was going to come down to himself and Callion. Either way, it would've been a saiyan victory if either one of them won, but he did want to beat Callion. Return the favour from last time.
What Athren hadn't been aware of was that he was partially a demon. His father had been a demon of the ancient times, one who had been more powerful with magics than physical combat. His father had controlled a legion of demons, they had all feared him and did his bidding and the whole reason for Athren's existence was to become a powerful warrior to be controlled. Athren's father had been seeking a powerful race in which to have a half-breed child with. A race that had powerful fighters, eager to fight, kill and conquer and the saiyan race had checked all the boxes on the list. Of course, while they weren't easily controlled Athren's father had believed his magic was enough to take control of the mind of the warrior but he didn't know how much pride the saiyan race had. While Athren had no knowledge of any of this or the fact that his transformations had come from his demon side, it did give him an edge that the rest of the saiyan race didn't have. It allowed him to tap into a power that no other saiyan had and put him above most by default. It had seemed as if Athren's fathers plan had worked to create a powerful warrior, though that would be the same thing that would work against him. While Athren continued to get stronger, he had simply been filling the expectations of his father unknowingly.
Athren's father was going to let Athren continue to grow stronger and stronger. He was keeping tabs on his child as he trained away and his son had just entered a stage of his life where his power was developing rapidly. It was possible that the combination of the demon and saiyan had made Athren grow stronger much faster than easier than the normal saiyan warrior. While Athren knew none of this, it was very likely. Athren just knew that he was different, he had a few examples why and was often called a half-breed by those around. He couldn't help but spike his curiosity, maybe there was some truth to that. He just didn't have any evidence of it. Regardless, whatever he was truly and whatever his heritage had dictated him to be didn't matter. He had embraced saiyan culture, he had grown up as a saiyan warrior and that likely wouldn't change unless something drastic happened. He was going to keep training and keep fighting like a saiyan no matter who told him otherwise. He had the pride and he had the determination and he wasn't going to stop. Even if he reached the power of the king, he'd just push harder and grow stronger. While he didn't have an interest in taking the throne, it would've been amusing to him to be more powerful then their leader. Though, he couldn't help but wonder how the king would react to a saiyan more powerful than him. Surely, it wouldn't slide.
While this thought crept into Athren's mind every now and then as he continued to get stronger, it wasn't a main focus. He wouldn't really give a shit what the king thought in that situation. What was he going to do, exile him? Order his execution? It was a challenge that Athren would accept with open arms. It was just another excuse to test himself and fight through opponents. He was a fighter and he'd fight to the very end, he would give an inch without making an opponent fight for it and that was one of the things that drove him. He loved challenging himself, he loved putting himself up against powerful warriors and he hoped that the trend would continue because in turn, if he had managed to survive he would just come out even stronger than he did before.
Though another thought he often dismissed would also cross his mind. If it came to that, if he had become stronger than the King or even become the strongest saiyan on Planet Vegeta, would he really be willing to continue to serve the Saiyan Empire? It was something that seemed counter productive to the amount of power he could hold. Why bother fighting for somebody who got all the rewards of Athren's battles and conquest, why not do it for himself and take the rewards for his own? It seemed only fitting, if he had been doing the work and becoming that powerful, the spoils of his conquest should belong to him.
For now, Athren would dismiss that thought again. He wasn't there yet and there hadn't been a point to thinking about it. For now, he just had to keep focus on getting stronger and more powerful and training for this tournament that was hosted tomorrow. He was going to be a loyal warrior to the Empire for the time being, even if the temptations of self enrichment continued to pester him. Besides, he did expect a war to take place on Earth soon, another invasion was surely about to focus the entire saiyan race on the Planet Earth and Athren had still wanted to be a part of that. If not for the riches that could be gained, but for the power he could acquire through battle. Even if the Earth didn't provide a strong enough warrior to challenge him, he could still end up having some fun and destroying countless cities and ending countless lives and he'd take what he could get. That day couldn't come soon enough but for now, he had to get through the tournament tomorrow. He wanted the tournament to be here, he was truly eager to see what the Earth could provide in terms of challengers. He wanted to put to rest whether or not the entire planet was weak or not. While he did believe the rumours, he was eager to prove them to be true. Though if they were proved false, he knew he was in for a real challenge.
Eager to fight in the tournament, Athren was once again going to dedicate an entire day to training. He hadn't really stopped since he stepped onboard the ship except to meet his other needs such as sleep and hunger. He hadn't remembered the last time he was this eager to train and get stronger. When he woke up it had been super early, of course the concept of time on the ship was lost as they travelled past planets, stars and suns. Without the cycle of day and night, it was easy to get lost to the time that had past. The only thing keeping track was the clocks. Though the trip had been for six days, it didn't quite feel that way with how much Athren was training and pushing himself. He had managed to occupy his time with training and the time did pass quickly doing it. His training was rewarding, even the short time on the ship had done him well. Yet he wasn't going to stop. He still had a day left and he was going to use every hour possible in order to keep getting stronger. It was the best use of his time on this trip and his time in the gravity machine had been getting well rewarded. Every time he had stepped out of the gravity chamber, he could almost feel the power increase immediately. He was well on his way to greatness and it wasn't going to stop and he wasn't going to slow down.
He had gotten himself dressed in his normal attire with his Super Heavy Weights connected to his armoured chest plate. He entered the gravity chamber and made his way over to the controls. He turned the dial to max and pressed the on button. In an instant the lights in the room turned red and Athren could feel the gravity pulling down against him as it tried to bring him down to the floor. Of course, he stood tall against it. He had already adapted to gravity but now it was a little more. Even though it had been a little more than last time, it wasn't a significant increase and he would still manage to stay on his feet and fight against it. The benefits of the gravity was that it made his entire body work harder to do the most basic actions and in turn that made him stronger. The resistance against him made everything well worth it and it usually wouldn't take long for him to feel the burning and aching in his muscles as they pushed through the gravity. Under the gravity, Athren had walked to the middle of the room as he began to stretch out his muscles. He wanted to be relaxed and loose before he got to the actual training session of the day. Last thing he needed was an injury the day before the tournament. That would've put him at a disadvantage, one that he didn't need.
After he stretched out, Athren would begin roaming the room rapidly and shadow boxing. His attacks were sharp as he launched them into the air rapidly as if he were fighting a real opponent. This was simply going to be his warm up, get his fresh and in the right mindset before he activated his training dummy. He kept moving around the room at a rapid pace, pushing himself as hard as he could to be as fast as he could while his attacks were accurate and powerful. He kept himself moving, not stopping as he got into the rhythm of the training session he was going to undergo. He knew that this was going to be a long training session, it was going to last the entire day. He'd stop for breaks and food but other than that, Athren wasn't going to stop. He desired more power and he was eager to be at his absolute peak before he starting sparring against the training dummy. Athren kept at this for about a half an hour, he made sure he was completely warmed up and ready before he got to the real challenge. While the training dummy itself wasn't much of a fighter or warrior, it did provide him with a harder workout than just doing simple shadow boxing, but he still wanted to make sure he was ready for it and that his body was prepared to keep going like this for the day. He couldn't have the training dummy getting a lucky hit and doing some actual damage.
With a short pause, Athren had activated the training dummy and began his battle with that. He kept pace with it fairly easily as they circled the room and moving at a rapid speed. He felt his muscles tensing up as they fought against the weight of the gravity and the weight that pressed against his shoulders. The weight upon him was heavy and he could definitely feel it, but it wasn't going to be enough to bring him down or slow him. He was far too determined for that. He couldn't afford to slow down, not with the tournament the next day. He wasn't even thinking about how tender or sore his body would be for the tournament, he was simply just thinking of the power that all this training would bring him and that was more than enough motivation for Athren to keep on pushing through. Though, he did have a thought. While he was here he could keep working on techniques and while he wanted another technique to help in his defensive abilities, he also wanted to improve upon his signature Nova Cannon. It was one of his first techniques that he developed as a child and it was one that had held him through plenty of battles but it was time to increase it's power. He needed to overhaul it, force more energy into it and really make sure it could devastate a live target.
Now this is where he'd really put this training dummy to the test. Ultimately, it was said that no amount of damage could break it. Athren had also been told that the training dummy had energy absorbing abilities through nodes in it's palm. He had never seen a technology like that before and while he didn't know where it came from, he was eager to test it out. Though he knew that if he were to unleash his Nova Cannon here in the ship, he risked the ship and their very lives. He would essentially be trusting all of their lives to the abilities advertised for the dummy. Now while it wasn't a choice Athren would be able to make easily, it was a decision he'd have to make. He vocalized and put the dummy on it's defensive mode where it would simply hold it's ground. In this case, it wasn't programmed to dodge put to simply tank the attack that would be incoming. Athren stood there across the room, his ocean blue eyes staring down the training dummy that stood strong and tall before him. He couldn't help but think of all the things that could go wrong in the next few moments if he had decided to go through with the train of thought but at the same time, he couldn't help but think about how powerful his Nova Cannon could become. A part of him would rather die here and now than be defeated because he wasn't prepared.
The best case scenario here would've been that the training dummy managed to absorbed Athren's entire attack and contain it. Athren would improve upon his technique and the ship itself would be completely safe from this little decision. Worst Case scenario, Athren completely blew apart the training dummy and his attack breached the hull of the ship or caused a huge explosion that killed them all immediately. He couldn't help but take a few moments to figure this out and while he knew the best possible decision in this situation, he had too much riding on not being prepared. The more techniques he knew the better and the more honed and trained that they all were, the higher the chance of a saiyan victory tomorrow. That alone was well worth the risk in his eyes, and he couldn't help but choose to continue with this train of thought. It might've been risky, but it was worth the gamble. If he ended right here and now, at least it'd be by his own decision. As for Callion and Pars, they likely wouldn't even get to know what was happening. They'd likely just die quickly, faster than they could comprehend what was going on. With his decision made, it was time for Athren to get to it and try to upgrade his technique. He was putting all his faith in the technology of the training dummy, he was putting their lives in it's hands. It might've been foolish, but he was willing to pay the cost.
Athren was too damn stubborn and determined to slow his progress down now and he wasn't going to wait until he touched down on the Earth to perfect this technique. He was going to get this out of the way, right here and right now. There wasn't a point in waiting, if he waited he might've never gotten this done. For all he knew tomorrow was going to turn into a blood bath and he'd need something more powerful. This couldn't wait. It was time. Right now. He extended his right hand out to his side as his red aura started to gather around his hand. His Nova Cannon while being one of his primary techniques had always been lacking in power. It was technique he never put much time or effort into. He preferred being up close and personal, brawling with his opponent. Even when it came to techniques, he preferred that method above any type of ranged attacks. It's just who he was,down to his soul. He knew that had left him weak at a distance but that didn't much matter to him until recently. Now it was something that had to be rectified and fast. He knew that tomorrow would likely have some ranged fighters, people who preferred a distance and if they were good at ranged attacks, it'd be very difficult for him to close the distance and start pummelling them. While he was improving quickly, he still needed to take his techniques one at a time.
He poured more energy through his body and funnelled it towards his hand. The Ball of Ki grew bigger and bigger as its energy flared aggressively. Athren took his time condensing the energy further to avoid increasing the size of the technique while more power continued to go into it. When it was finally ready, Athren swung his hand forward and launched his attack towards the training dummy. It rapidly crossed the room of the gravitron and the training dummy stuck both it's hands out to meet the blast. Now this blast wasn't as strong as Athren could've made it but it was about double the power he normally put into it. When the attack collided with the training dummy's hands, it's energy absorbing nodes lit up the room with a bright white light as it sucked in all the energy Athren had tossed towards it. It took a few short seconds but the attack had been dealt with and Athren couldn't help but arch a brow. While the advertisements said it could handle just about anything, he thought that it was an exaggeration. Yet, he was grateful it held true. Otherwise, he might've been dead at this moment. Now that it had taken an improved power technique, Athren was going to amp it up and go to absolute full power. If the training dummy could handle that, then he'd believe it could truly handle anything at all. Now to test that theory.
Word Count: 4,000
-1 Pre-Workout Mix used: 10%
Super Heavy Weights: Equipped 75%
Gravity 2.0 (Pending approval) 75%
Training Dummy Active: 25%
[OT2] Improved Nova Cannon: Learned -1 TP
