It had hardly been a few hours since Athren had gotten himself out of the healing chamber and in that time he had managed to gather a little bit of intel through a quick visit at one of his favorite pubs. Of course it helped that he ran into one of his oldest friends, Celric. Him and Celric went way back, they had even been rivals growing up and always competed to be better than the other. Unfortunately, adult life had snuffed out that rivalry as the two had been assigned to different squads and often different missions. Being warriors, they had shifted their attention to what had mattered most. Their own success and their own assignments and at this point in their lives, that didn't allow for a lot of time to go back to their childish rivalry.  Speaking with Celric, he did manage to learn that Ryoko had survived the battle of Cereal, he had even mentioned that she had been around but left a little while ago. Of course, Athren had suspected where she'd wind up but he didn't rush to her.

He confirmed Pars was alive when he walked by his own healing pod, it seemed that their squad had really gotten the rough end of it on Cereal. None of them really fared out well but by the sounds of it, Ryoko got off the easiest.  With Pars and Ryoko surviving, it brought a little bit of ease to Athren. While he was a saiyan, he did have a wider range of emotions. This could've been due to his demon side but he didn't really wish to see his squad die off. If it happened, he wouldn't exactly mourn for them but he wanted to see them succeed.   He also had learned that the invasion force that went to take Cereal, did in fact win the battle over all. The planet was cleared out of all it's life and the saiyan race was victorious once again. While Athren wished he could've been there for the victory celebrations, he was grateful he was there and that he got out alive and if anything, his loss had only pushed him to be stronger.  How lucky he was to be born a saiyan, even after a brutal defeat, he got stronger naturally.

"Alright, I'm going to go find Ryo. I've got a feeling there might be a little bit of damage control to be done.  I might've lost my fight on Cereal, but her entire squad lost the battle. That isn't something easy to walk away from." He said this to Celric as he made his way to the door, his right hand giving a small wave with his thumb and pointer finger extended. 

Celric raised his mug with a smirk, "I'll see you around Athren! One of these days, we'll have to get back into the stadium and see who's the strongest!"

Athren couldn't help but smirk. "For sure."

---

It didn't take Athren very long to get to the Springs and lucky enough for him it was rather close to his own little home in Coco Village and while his home wasn't much, it gave him a nice place to sleep and relax while he was actually on Planet.   Flying over the Springs he saw a commonly used spot for rest and relaxation. Often, lone warriors would relax there as it wasn't big enough for a crowd. Maybe a few individuals could squeeze onto the rock comfortably.



His feet touched down gently beside her as she lay there, his ocean blue eyes gazed out into the water as he took a moment of silence to listen to the running water. Even a warrior such as himself enjoyed the peaceful sounds every now and then. After all, he couldn't fight all day every day, even if being in the fight was where he belonged and thrived. For a brief moment he glanced down at Ryo, his eyes scanning her body ever so briefly before his gaze was brought back up to the water.

He wanted to keep things light, he was still developing a partnership with his current squad and he thought the best approach to this particular moment after taking a massive defeat on the squad level was joining her in relaxation, there wasn't a need to discuss the loss, or work but he did at least want to bring some relief on the Pars situation. His left hand rose to remove his scouter before he realized that it was no longer on him, the battle he had on Cereal had taken that piece of equipment. He slid off his armor and tossed it to his right, followed by his shirt.

"Pars shouldn't be in recovery much longer, most of his wounds have been completely healed up."

He stated before swiftly changing the subject to a more relaxing situation. He slipped off his gloves and the fabric around his wrists that went up to his forearms, tossing them on the pile of armor and clothing he was leaving behind.   He didn't bother with his pants or boots.  "Now, I've got to wash whats left of this healing liquid off, If you care to join me?"

He stated casually, his voice low and soft before leaping into the air and SMASHING down against the surface of the spring. Of course, naturally this cause a HUGE explosion of water that sent a big splash heading right towards Ryo.

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Word Count: 909
Power Level: 3,730